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{{Expand German|E. A. Seemann|date=March 2018}} {{refimprove|date=January 2025}}

The '''E. A. Seemann Verlag''' (now operating as the ''Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG'') is a German publisher, founded on 1 December 1858, based in ] and specialising in art and art history. The '''E. A. Seemann Verlag''' (now operating as the ''Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG'') is a German publisher, founded on 1 December 1858, based in ] and specialising in art and art history.


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Ernst finally handed the company over to his son ] on 1 January 1899. Ernst was its sole leader from then until 1 October 1899, when he split management with ] (1870–1934) and largely withdrew into private life. He handed his share over to his eldest son Elert A. Seemann (1892–1989) in 1923 and killed himself two years later aged sixty-four. Ernst finally handed the company over to his son ] on 1 January 1899. Ernst was its sole leader from then until 1 October 1899, when he split management with ] (1870–1934) and largely withdrew into private life. He handed his share over to his eldest son Elert A. Seemann (1892–1989) in 1923 and killed himself two years later aged sixty-four.


<!---Der Verlag hatte inzwischen mehrmals den Standort in Leipzig gewechselt, bis er am 1. April 1912 das neu errichtete Verlagsgebäude in der Hospitalstraße (heute: ]) im '']'' im Osten der Stadt bezog. Kirstein modernisierte den E. A. Seemann Verlag und festigte den Ruf des Unternehmens als einer der führenden Kunstverlage in Deutschland. Er realisierte ''E. A. Seemanns farbige Gemäldewiedergaben'' von Meisterwerken der klassischen und modernen Malerei, die durch den neu erfundenen ] in der Großdruckerei ] (Zwickau/Sa.) möglich geworden waren. Zu seinem 50-jährigen Bestehen konnte der Verlag rund 950 Farbmotive in einer Gesamtproduktion von 150 Millionen Kunstblättern vorweisen. Es war weltweit das größte Verlagsunternehmen dieser Art. Neben den Einzelblättern zum Preis von je einer ] stellte der Verlag jetzt auch Mappen zusammen, die ausgewählten Künstlern gewidmet und denen kurze Einführungstexte beigegeben waren. The publishing house had changed location in Leipzig several times before moving into the newly constructed building on Hospitalstrasse (now ]) in the '']'' in the east of the city on 1 April 1912. Kirstein modernised the E. A. Seemann publishing house and consolidated the company's reputation as one of the leading art publishers in Germany. He produced ''E. A. Seemanns farbige Gemäldewiedergaben'' (E. A. Seemann's coloured painting reproductions), showing classical and modern masterpieces, which had been made possible by the newly invented ] in the large printing house ] (Zwickau/Sa.). On its fiftieth anniversary, the publishing house was able to present around 950 colour images in a total production of 150 million art copies. This made it the largest publishing company of its kind in the world. In addition to the individual sheets, each priced at one ], it also put together portfolios dedicated to selected artists, each with a short introductory text.


Ab 1900 druckte der Verlag auch farbige Großreproduktionen, die vor allem als Wandschmuck und Lehrmaterial verwendet wurden. In der Reihe ''Moderne Graphik'' erschienen Originalradierungen auf hochwertigen Künstlerpapieren, meist von den Künstlern auch signiert. Diese Sammlung umfasste 1933 rund 400 Motive, darunter Blätter von ], ], ], ], ], ] und ]. Kirstein legte die erstmals 1842 erschienene ''Geschichte Friedrichs des Großen'' des Kunsthistorikers ] mit 400 Illustrationen ]s 1922 neu auf, wofür er die alten Holzstöcke von Menzel erwarb. From 1900 onwards, the publisher also printed large-scale colour reproductions, which were used primarily as wall decorations and teaching materials. The series ''Moderne Graphik'' published original etchings on high-quality artist paper, usually signed by the artists. In 1933, this collection comprised around 400 works, including ones by ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. In 1922, Kirstein republished the 1842 ''History of Frederick the Great'' by the art historian ] with 400 illustrations by ], for which he acquired Menzel's old woodblocks. Some of the company's larger publications have remained fundamental to art-historical research to this day, including ]'s ''German Art Historians'' (1921/1924), Gustav Kirstein's monograph ''The Life of Adolph Menzel'' (1919), ]'s ''Introduction to Contemporary Art'' (1919, 3rd edition 1922) and ] ''Modern Graphic Art'' (1914, 3rd edition 1922).
Zu den größeren Veröffentlichungen, die bis heute grundlegend für die kunstwissenschaftliche Forschung geblieben sind, gehören u. a. ]s ''Deutsche Kunsthistoriker'' (1921/1924), Gustav Kirsteins Monografie ''Das Leben Adolph Menzels'' (1919), ]s ''Einführung in die Kunst der Gegenwart'' (1919, 3. Auflage 1922) und ] ''Die moderne Graphik'' (1914, 3. Auflage 1922).


1923 wurde die auf 500 Bändchen angelegte '']'' gestartet, von der tatsächlich nur 88 Nummern in 84 Bänden erschienen sind. In dieser ]artig konzipierten Buchreihe äußerten sich namhafte, überwiegend in-, aber auch ausländische Kunstwissenschaftler in ]istischer Form zu ]en (]: '']''), Künstlern (]: '']''), Kunstepochen (]: '']'') oder übergreifenden Themen der Kunstwissenschaft (]: ''Ideen zu einer Kunstgeographie Europas''). Die im ] gehaltenen Bände der der ] gewidmeten Reihe, die mit ]s ''Das Erklären von Kunstwerken'' begann und mit ]s ''Die französische Malerei der Gegenwart'' endete, waren in einen Text- und einen Fototeil gegliedert und gingen in ihrem Umfang, ausgenommen die zwei Doppelbände und den Dreifachband, über zwei ] nicht hinaus. In 1923, the '']'' was launched, with a total of 500 volumes, of which only 88 issues in 84 volumes were actually published. Well-known art historians, mostly from Germany but also from abroad, contributed essays to it on ] (]: '']''), artists (]: '']''), periods (]: '']'') or overarching themes in art history (]: ''Ideas for an Art Geography of Europe''). The volumes in ] of the series dedicated to ], which began with ]'s ''The Explanation of Works of Art'' and ended with ]'s ''Contemporary French Painting'', were divided into a text and a photo section and, with the exception of the two double volumes and the triple volume, did not exceed two ].


With the eight-volume edition of ''Masterpieces. An Art History for the German People'' (1927 to 1934) by the Leipzig professor of art history ], the publisher presented an inexpensive and generally understandable reference work.
Mit der achtbändigen Ausgabe der ''Meisterwerke. Eine Kunstgeschichte für das deutsche Volk'' (1927 bis 1934) des Leipziger Ordinarius für Kunstgeschichte ] präsentierte der Verlag ein preiswertes und allgemeinverständliches Nachschlagewerk.


Ab 1911 erschien das vom Leipziger Verlag ] übernommene '']'', das nach seinen beiden Herausgebern ] (1865–1922) und ] (1864–1928) als der „Thieme-Becker“ bekannt wurde, im E. A. Seemann Verlag. 1923 übernahm ] die Leitung der Redaktion des „Thieme-Becker“, der 1947 mit dem letzten alphabetischen und 1950 mit einem Band zu Künstlern mit Notnamen und Monogrammisten seinen Abschluss fand. From 1911, the company took over publication of the '']'' (which had previously been taken over by the Leipzig publisher ]), nicknamed the "Thieme-Becker" after its two editors ] and ]). In 1923 ] took over as its editor and it was completed in 1947 with the last alphabetical volume and in 1950 with a volume on anonymous artists and monogrammists.


1911 wurde die ''Seemann-Lichtbildanstalt'' als ein Zweigunternehmen eingerichtet, das die ''Seestern-Lichtbilder'', Diapositive für Lehr- und Unterrichtszwecke, herstellte. In 1911, the ''Seemann-Lichtbildanstalt'' was established as a branch company that produced the ''Seestern-Lichtbilder'', slides for teaching and educational purposes.
--->


=== Under Nazism === === Under Nazism ===
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The company was now solely a book publisher and abandoned colour printing, abandoning its long-held art historical focus to publish Nazi propaganda such as ]'s ''On the Nature and Development of German Forms'' as well as Hans Weigert's ''Art of Today as a Mirror of the Times'' and ]'s ''Art from Blood and Soil''. The ] destroyed the publishing house, its photographic studio, all its documents and its printing equipment, with only the colour printing plates being stored at Förster & Borries in ] and other materials and works then outside the main building surviving. This particularly impacted the editorial staff of the "Thieme-Becker" artists' encyclopedia with its extensive library and fifty year old collection of documents - the already completed typesetting of its last volume was destroyed. The company was now solely a book publisher and abandoned colour printing, abandoning its long-held art historical focus to publish Nazi propaganda such as ]'s ''On the Nature and Development of German Forms'' as well as Hans Weigert's ''Art of Today as a Mirror of the Times'' and ]'s ''Art from Blood and Soil''. The ] destroyed the publishing house, its photographic studio, all its documents and its printing equipment, with only the colour printing plates being stored at Förster & Borries in ] and other materials and works then outside the main building surviving. This particularly impacted the editorial staff of the "Thieme-Becker" artists' encyclopedia with its extensive library and fifty year old collection of documents - the already completed typesetting of its last volume was destroyed.


=== Soviet Zone and DDR===<!--- === Soviet Zone and DDR===
Elert had signed over all parts of the company to his sister Irmgard Nußbaum-Seemann (1903–?) in September 1945 before fleeing to what would become ] and the occupying powers confirmed her as its owner on 13 February 1946. Kirstein's former half of the company, now renamed "Seemann and Co", was licensed to resume production at the war's end. On 3 December 1946 permission was granted for the company to publish the 'Zeitschrift für Kunst und künstlerische Gestaltung'.
Der einstige Kirstein-Zweig des Verlages, nun wieder „Seemann & Co.“, erhielt eine Lizenz zur Weiterführung der Produktion. Am 3. Dezember 1946 wurde die Genehmigung zur Herausgabe der ''Zeitschrift für Kunst und künstlerische Gestaltung'' erteilt. Ein Jahr später wurde mit der Lizenz zur „Veröffentlichung von Literatur über Kunst, Kunst-, Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte“ die Weiterführung des Verlages gesichert. Das Unternehmen blieb vorerst im Besitz der Familie Seemann, auch wenn Elert Seemann wegen seiner einstigen NSDAP-Zugehörigkeit nicht als Inhaber zugelassen wurde. Seemann hatte sich bereits in Richtung Westen abgesetzt, nachdem er im September 1945 seiner Schwester Irmgard Nußbaum-Seemann (1903–?) alle Verlagsteile überlassen hatte. Am 13. Februar 1946 wurde sie als Verlagsinhaberin von der Besatzungsmacht bestätigt. Elert Seemann selbst versuchte, einen Zweig des Familienunternehmens in der britischen Besatzungszone, in Köln, zu errichten und führte ihn unter großen wirtschaftlichen Schwierigkeiten bis zu seinem Tod im Jahre 1989 und zwar wieder als Kunstverlag, teilweise in Zusammenarbeit mit dem VEB E. A. Seemann in Leipzig.


In 1947 the occupiers licensed the company to publish "literature on art, art history, cultural history and intellectual history" but banned Elert from owning it due to his Nazi links, though he did establish a branch of the business in ] in the ] and ran it with great difficulties until his death in 1989, partly in collaboration with the main company's headquarters in Leipzig. Irmgard planned to move the company headquarters to Munich (i.e. out of the ]) and moved the surviving "Thieme-Becker" documents and colour printing plates to her "Nautilus" branch in Bavaria, founded in 1949. When this became known she had to flee the ] in February 1952. Verlag E. A. Seemann was seized and on 8 August the same year became ] as the VEB E. A. Seemann, retaining its founder's name after long disputes with Elert.
Die Schwester Elert Seemanns, Irmgard Nußbaum, plante, den E. A. Seemann Verlag in München zu etablieren und überführte „Thieme-Becker“-Unterlagen sowie Farbdruckklischees an ihre bereits 1949 gegründete Zweigniederlassung „Nautilus“ in Bayern. Als dies bekannt wurde, verließ sie im Februar 1952 die DDR. Der Verlag E. A. Seemann wurde daraufhin enteignet und am 8. August 1952 in einen ] (VEB) umgewandelt. Der Name seines Gründers E(rnst) A(rthur) Seemann aber blieb nach langen Querelen mit dem in Köln ansässigen Elert Seemann als Firmenbezeichnung erhalten.


Mit dem Erscheinen der ''Zeitschrift für Kunst'' wurde der Neubeginn der Verlagstätigkeit eingeleitet, die Buchproduktion wurde fortgesetzt. Der letzte Band des „Thieme-Becker“ konnte dank einer geretteten Korrekturfahne 1947 neu gesetzt, gedruckt und ausgeliefert werden. Neue Monografien und Kunstbände sowie Kalender waren neben Nachauflagen im Programm vertreten. Als neues Verlagsdomizil bekam der E. A. Seemann Verlag 1951 das Wohnhaus Jacobstraße 6 in Leipzig zugewiesen. Neben dem ] in Dresden und dem ] bestritt der E. A. Seemann Verlag den Großteil der Kunstbuchproduktion in der DDR. Die Leitung des Verlages E. A. Seemann bekam zunächst ] übertragen, er wurde 1954 von ] (1922–1997) abgelöst. Er baute E. A. Seemann zum führenden Kunstverlag der DDR aus. The publication of the ''Zeitschrift für Kunst'' marked a new beginning and book production continued. The company was also able to re-set, print and deliver the last volume of "Thieme-Becker" in 1947 thanks to a rescued proof. New monographs and art books as well as calendars were included in the program alongside reprints. In 1951, the E. A. Seemann Verlag was assigned the house at Jacobstrasse 6 in Leipzig as its new publishing house. Alongside the ] in Dresden and the ], the E. A. Seemann Verlag handled the majority of art book production in the GDR. It was initially managed by ], then from 1954 by ] (1922–1997). He built E. A. Seemann into the leading art publisher in the GDR.


After the completion of the "Thieme-Becker", which no longer listed artists born after 1870, it became necessary to supplement and update the work. ] took on this task. Within eight years he produced six further volumes, which were published between 1953 and 1962 under the title ''General Encyclopedia of Visual Artists of the 20th Century''. The "Thieme-Becker-Vollmer" is still being reprinted unchanged to this day. At the end of the 1960s, work began on a new edition, the '']'' (AKL), which was initially planned to consist of 30 volumes. Due to the inadequate technical equipment and the limited use of libraries outside the GDR, the publication of the first volume took until 1983; Volumes 2 and 3 followed every three years. Since 1 April 1991, the work has been continued by ]. 99 volumes of the AKL have now been published, with the three volumes still published by E. A. Seemann Verlag being reprinted in four volumes for reasons of standardization.
Nach Abschluss des „Thieme-Becker“, in dem die nach 1870 geborenen Künstler nicht mehr aufgeführt waren, wurde eine Ergänzung und Aktualisierung des Werkes erforderlich. ] übernahm diese Aufgabe. Innerhalb von acht Jahren erarbeitete er sechs weitere Bände, die 1953 bis 1962 unter dem Titel das ''Allgemeine Lexikon der bildenden Künstler des XX. Jahrhunderts'' erschienen. Der „Thieme-Becker-Vollmer“ wird bis heute unverändert nachgedruckt. Ende der sechziger Jahre begann man mit einer Neubearbeitung, dem '']'' (AKL), das zunächst auf 30 Bände angelegt war. Aufgrund der mangelhaften technischen Ausrüstung und der begrenzten Nutzungsmöglichkeiten von Bibliotheken außerhalb der DDR dauerte die Herausgabe des ersten Bandes bis 1983; die Bände 2 und 3 folgten im Dreijahresrhythmus. Seit dem 1. April 1991 wird das Werk im ] fortgeführt. Inzwischen sind 99 Bände des AKL erschienen, wobei die drei noch im E. A. Seemann Verlag herausgegebenen Bände aus Gründen der Vereinheitlichung neu – in vier Bänden – gedruckt wurden.


Zu den großen Kunstlexika des Verlages gehört auch das von ] begründete ''Lexikon der Kunst'', das zwischen 1968 und 1978 in fünf Bänden erschien. Der erste Band einer von Harald Olbrich als Hauptredakteur verantworteten Neubearbeitung des Lexikons wurde 1987 veröffentlicht, der siebte und letzte Band erschien 1994. One of the publisher's major art encyclopedias was the ''Lexikon der Kunst'' (Lexicon of Art) founded by ], which appeared in five volumes between 1968 and 1978. The first volume of a new edition of the encyclopedia, under the responsibility of Harald Olbrich as chief editor, was published in 1987, the seventh and final volume appeared in 1994.


In den 1970er Jahren begann der E. A. Seemann Verlag ein neues Großprojekt, die ''Geschichte der deutschen Kunst''. Der erste Band des Werkes, das von Kunsthistorikern mehrerer Universitäten und der ] verfasst wurde, kam 1981 heraus. Unter Federführung von ] (Jena), ] (Leipzig), Harald Olbrich (Berlin), ] (Berlin) u. a. erschienen bis 1990 zehn umfangreiche Bände, die einzelne Kunstepochen vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart behandeln. Die Bände spiegeln zugleich die methodische Vielfalt kunsthistorischer Forschung in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Wegen der einsetzenden Wirtschaftskrise musste das Vorhaben 1990 abgebrochen werden. In the 1970s, E. A. Seemann Verlag began a new major project, the ''Geschichte der deutschen Kunst'' (History of German Art). The first volume of the work, which was written by art historians from several universities and the ], was published in 1981. Under the leadership of ] (Jena), ] (Leipzig), Harald Olbrich (Berlin), ] (Berlin) and others, ten extensive volumes were published by 1990, covering individual art periods from the Middle Ages to the present. The volumes also reflect the methodological diversity of art historical research in the second half of the 20th century. Due to the onset of the economic crisis, the project had to be abandoned in 1990.


In addition to ''Seemann's large art calendar'' (''Seemanns großem Kunstkalender''), there was the monthly calendar ''The beautiful detail'' (''Das schöne Detail'') and three differently oriented postcard calendars from the end of the 1960s. An important part of the publishing program continued to be painting reproductions, which were published by, among others, Seemann and Feist. were sold in a collection of pictures for wall decoration.
Neben ''Seemanns großem Kunstkalender'' gab es seit Ende der 1960er Jahre den Monatskalender ''Das schöne Detail'' sowie drei unterschiedlich ausgerichtete Postkartenkalender. Einen wichtigen Bestandteil des Verlagsprogramms bildeten nach wie vor die Gemäldereproduktionen, die u. a. in einer ''Wandschmuckbild-Kollektion'' in den Handel kamen.
--->


=== 1990-present ===<!--- === 1990-present ===
Nach 1989 wurde der Verlag eine Zeitlang treuhänderisch verwaltet, bis ] den Verlag erwarb und ihn im Sommer 1992 in die neu gegründete ] mit Sitz in Berlin eingliederte. Lektorat und Herstellung des Verlages blieben in Leipzig. Auch der Name E. A. Seemann wurde beibehalten. Reihen wie die '']'', die ''Beiträge zur Kunstwissenschaft'', die Hefte der ''Baudenkmale'' und auch die seit Mitte der 1980er Jahre edierten '']'' wuchsen um neue Ausgaben an. Die meisten dieser Folgen wurden jedoch in den 1990er Jahren eingestellt. Auch das komplette Kalenderangebot erschien 1992 zum letzten Mal. After 1989, the publishing house was administered by a trustee for a while until ] acquired the publishing house and incorporated it into the newly founded ] based in Berlin in the summer of 1992. The publishing house's editorial department and production remained in Leipzig. The name E. A. Seemann was also retained. Series such as the '']'', the ''Beiträge zur Kunstwissenschaft'', the ''Baudenkmale'' issues and also the '']'', which has been published since the mid-1980s, grew with new editions. However, most of these series were discontinued in the 1990s. The complete range of calendars also appeared for the last time in 1992.
Zusätzlich zum ''Lexikon der Kunst'' erschienen mit ''Seemanns kleinem Kunstlexikon'' (1994) und ''Seemanns Lexikon der Architektur'' (1994) einbändige Nachschlagewerke. In der Reihe ''Kunst und Gestaltung'' wurden Klassiker der Kunstpraxis neu publiziert, darunter Max Doerners ''Malmaterial und seine Verwendung'' von 1921, John Gages Untersuchung zur ''Sprache der Farben'' und Autoren wie Johannes Itten und Gottfried Bammes.


In addition to the ''Lexicon of Art'', one-volume reference works were published, ''Seemann's Small Art Encyclopedia'' (1994) and ''Seemann's Encyclopedia of Architecture'' (1994). Classics of art practice were republished in the ''Art and Design'' series, including Max Doerner's ''Painting Materials and Their Use'' from 1921, John Gage's study of the ''Language of Colors'' and authors such as Johannes Itten and Gottfried Bammes.
Die ''Dornier Medienholding'' trennte sich von den 1992 übernommenen Kunst- und Kulturverlagen, zu denen neben E. A. Seemann noch die Verlage ] und Henschel gehörten. Zum 1. April 2003 erwarben die Gesellschafter Bernd Kolf und Jürgen A. Bach die drei Verlage und gründeten sie neu in der Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG, zu der im Sommer 2004 noch der Leipziger Traditionsverlag ] kam. Hauptsitz des Unternehmens ist Leipzig.


The ''Dornier Media Holding'' separated from the art and culture publishers it had taken over in 1992, which included E. A. Seemann, the publishers ] and Henschel. On 1 April 2003, the partners Bernd Kolf and Jürgen A. Bach acquired the three publishing houses and re-established them as Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG, which was joined in summer 2004 by the traditional Leipzig publishing house ]. The company's headquarters are in Leipzig.
Das immer noch umfangreichste Künstlerlexikon der Welt, der 1960 abgeschlossene „Thieme-Becker-Vollmer“ (als CD-ROM), sowie das siebenbändige ''Lexikon der Kunst'' sind weiterhin im Auflagenprogramm, von beiden Werken wurden überdies Studienausgaben herausgegeben. Weitere einbändige Lexika zu verschiedenen Themen der bildenden Kunst sind Programm, so das ''Lexikon der Symbole'' (2003), das ''Lexikon der Ornamente'' (2004), Stefan Dürres ''Lexikon der Skulptur'' (2007) und Brigitte Rieses ''Lexikon der Ikonografie'' (2007). Monografien erscheinen nun unter anderem in einer Reihe broschierter Bändchen zu einzelnen Meisterwerken der Kunstgeschichte. Mit Beiträgen von Barbara John zu ''Max Klinger − Beethoven'' (2004) und ''Caspar David Friedrich – Kreidefelsen auf Rügen'' (2005) sowie von Roland Krischel zu ''] – Die Muttergottes in der Rosenlaube'' (2006) wurde eine alte Verlagstradition auch hier neu belebt.


The world's most comprehensive artist encyclopedia, the "Thieme-Becker-Vollmer" (as a CD-ROM), completed in 1960, and the seven-volume "Encyclopedia of Art" are still in print, and study editions of both works have also been published. Other one-volume encyclopedias on various topics in the visual arts are also in the program, such as the "Encyclopedia of Symbols" (2003), the "Encyclopedia of Ornaments" (2004), Stefan Dürre's "Encyclopedia of Sculpture" (2007) and Brigitte Riese's "Encyclopedia of Iconography" (2007). Monographs are now being published in a series of paperback volumes on individual masterpieces of art history. With contributions by Barbara John on ''Max Klinger - Beethoven'' (2004) and ''Caspar David Friedrich - Chalk Cliffs on Rügen'' (2005) and by Roland Krischel on ''] - The Mother of God in the Rose Bower'' (2006), it has also revived an old publishing tradition.
⚫ Nachdem die Verlagsgruppe Seemann Henschel zum 1. März 2017 ] angemeldet hatte<ref>, ''Buchmarkt'', 9. März 2017.</ref>, wurde sie zum 1. Oktober 2017 von ], dem Inhaber von ], übernommen.<ref>''Leipziger Bücher. Zukunft für Seemann und Henschel.'' In: ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' vom 30. September 2017, S. 14; {{Internetquelle|autor= |url=https://www.boersenblatt.net/archiv/1393066.html |titel=Unter einem Kulturdach |werk=Börsenblatt |hrsg=Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels |datum=2017-10-24 |abruf=2022-12-17}}</ref> Geschäftsführerin und Verlegerin ist seit 2017 ].<ref>, ''Buchmarkt'' 17. Dezember 2017.</ref>


⚫ After the Seemann Henschel publishing group filed for insolvency on 1 March 2017<ref>{{in lang|de}} , ''Buchmarkt'', 9 March 2017.</ref>, it was taken over by ], the owner of ], on 1 October 2017.<ref>{{in lang|de}} ''Leipziger Bücher. Future for Seemann and Henschel.'' In: ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'', September 30, 2017, p. 14; {{cite web|access-date=2022-12-17 |date=2017-10-24 |publisher=Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels |title=Under a cultural roof |url=https://www.boersenblatt.net/archiv/1393066.html |work=Börsenblatt}}</ref> ] has been managing director and publisher since 2017.<ref>{{in lang|de}} , ''Buchmarkt'' December 17, 2017.</ref>
Das erhaltene Archivgut des Verlags aus den Jahren 1864 bis 1995 befindet sich heute im ].
--->


The publisher's archive material from the years 1864 to 1995 is now in the ].
⚫ == Bibliography ==

⚫ == Bibliography (in German) ==
* ''Hundert Jahre im Dienste der Kunst! Tradition, festliche Besinnung und Perspektive des VEB E. A. Seemann in Leipzig.'' In: ''Börsenblatt für den deutschen Buchhandel'' (Leipzig) 125, 1958, S. 806–808. * ''Hundert Jahre im Dienste der Kunst! Tradition, festliche Besinnung und Perspektive des VEB E. A. Seemann in Leipzig.'' In: ''Börsenblatt für den deutschen Buchhandel'' (Leipzig) 125, 1958, S. 806–808.
* Alfred Langer: ''Kunstliteratur und Reproduktion. 125 Jahre Seemann-Verlag im Dienste der Erforschung und Verbreitung der Kunst''. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1983. * Alfred Langer: ''Kunstliteratur und Reproduktion. 125 Jahre Seemann-Verlag im Dienste der Erforschung und Verbreitung der Kunst''. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1983.
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* {{NDB|24|153|154|Seemann, Ernst Arthur|Lothar Poethe|117445584}} * {{NDB|24|153|154|Seemann, Ernst Arthur|Lothar Poethe|117445584}}
* {{NDB|24|154|155|Seemann, Arthur|Lothar Poethe|107458055}} * {{NDB|24|154|155|Seemann, Arthur|Lothar Poethe|107458055}}

⚫ == References ==
⚫ <references />


== External links == == External links ==
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* {{in lang|de}} {{citeweb |url=https://archiv.sachsen.de/archiv/bestand.jsp?oid=09.22&bestandid=21107 |title=Findbuch zum Bestand 21107 VEB E. A. Seemann Buch- und Kunstverlag Leipzig 1922-1996 |work=Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Leipzig }} * {{in lang|de}} {{citeweb |url=https://archiv.sachsen.de/archiv/bestand.jsp?oid=09.22&bestandid=21107 |title=Findbuch zum Bestand 21107 VEB E. A. Seemann Buch- und Kunstverlag Leipzig 1922-1996 |work=Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Leipzig }}


{{authority control}}
⚫ == References ==
⚫ <references />

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The E. A. Seemann Verlag (now operating as the Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG) is a German publisher, founded on 1 December 1858, based in Leipzig and specialising in art and art history.

History

Ernst

Ernst Arthur Seemann, 1888

On 1 December 1858 the 29-year-old Ernst Arthur Seemann announced the opening of a business entitled E. A. Seemann, Verlags- und Sortimentsbuchhandlung, verbunden mit Kunst-, Musikalien u. Antiquariatsbuchhandel (Publisher's Bookshop and Assorted Bookshop, connected with the art, musical and antiquarian book trade) in Essen, the first German publisher to focus on painting reproductions and art writing. On 15 August 1861 he moved it to Leipzig, where the company name soon became a byword for high-quality writing on art. For example, it published Wilhelm Lübke's "History of Architecture" (1858) and his "History of Sculpture in all Times and Lands" (1863), Robert Dohme's six-volume biographical dictionary "Art and Artists of the Middle Ages and the Modern Era" (1875–1880) and the series Seemanns Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte (Seemann's Contribution to Art History, 1878 onwards), dedicated to specific artists, artworks, eras or regions.

From 1866 it began publishing Germany's first art magazine, entitled Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst (Magazine for Fine Arts), which remained a specialist journal for the art world for sixty-six years. In 1867 it began publishing the Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft (Art Yearbook) and the following year took over the rights to Jacob Burckhardt's work. From 1877 it used printing blocks for woodcut illustrations.

Artur to Elert

Ernst finally handed the company over to his son Artur on 1 January 1899. Ernst was its sole leader from then until 1 October 1899, when he split management with Gustav Kirstein (1870–1934) and largely withdrew into private life. He handed his share over to his eldest son Elert A. Seemann (1892–1989) in 1923 and killed himself two years later aged sixty-four.

The publishing house had changed location in Leipzig several times before moving into the newly constructed building on Hospitalstrasse (now Prager Strasse) in the Graphisches Viertel in the east of the city on 1 April 1912. Kirstein modernised the E. A. Seemann publishing house and consolidated the company's reputation as one of the leading art publishers in Germany. He produced E. A. Seemanns farbige Gemäldewiedergaben (E. A. Seemann's coloured painting reproductions), showing classical and modern masterpieces, which had been made possible by the newly invented three-colour printing in the large printing house Förster & Borries (Zwickau/Sa.). On its fiftieth anniversary, the publishing house was able to present around 950 colour images in a total production of 150 million art copies. This made it the largest publishing company of its kind in the world. In addition to the individual sheets, each priced at one Mark, it also put together portfolios dedicated to selected artists, each with a short introductory text.

From 1900 onwards, the publisher also printed large-scale colour reproductions, which were used primarily as wall decorations and teaching materials. The series Moderne Graphik published original etchings on high-quality artist paper, usually signed by the artists. In 1933, this collection comprised around 400 works, including ones by Max Beckmann, Lovis Corinth, Käthe Kollwitz, Max Liebermann, Edvard Munch, Emil Nolde and Max Klinger. In 1922, Kirstein republished the 1842 History of Frederick the Great by the art historian Franz Kugler with 400 illustrations by Adolph Menzel, for which he acquired Menzel's old woodblocks. Some of the company's larger publications have remained fundamental to art-historical research to this day, including Wilhelm Waetzoldt's German Art Historians (1921/1924), Gustav Kirstein's monograph The Life of Adolph Menzel (1919), Max Deri's Introduction to Contemporary Art (1919, 3rd edition 1922) and Hans Wolfgang Singer's Modern Graphic Art (1914, 3rd edition 1922).

In 1923, the Library of Art History was launched, with a total of 500 volumes, of which only 88 issues in 84 volumes were actually published. Well-known art historians, mostly from Germany but also from abroad, contributed essays to it on works of art (Erwin Panofsky: The Sistine Ceiling), artists (Gustav Pauli: Leonardo da Vinci), periods (Camillo Praschniker: Cretan Art) or overarching themes in art history (Kurt Gerstenberg: Ideas for an Art Geography of Europe). The volumes in octavo format of the series dedicated to fine art, which began with Heinrich Wölfflin's The Explanation of Works of Art and ended with Hans Tietze's Contemporary French Painting, were divided into a text and a photo section and, with the exception of the two double volumes and the triple volume, did not exceed two printed sheets.

With the eight-volume edition of Masterpieces. An Art History for the German People (1927 to 1934) by the Leipzig professor of art history Leo Bruhns, the publisher presented an inexpensive and generally understandable reference work.

From 1911, the company took over publication of the General Encyclopedia of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present (which had previously been taken over by the Leipzig publisher Wilhelm Engelmann), nicknamed the "Thieme-Becker" after its two editors Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker). In 1923 Hans Vollmer took over as its editor and it was completed in 1947 with the last alphabetical volume and in 1950 with a volume on anonymous artists and monogrammists.

In 1911, the Seemann-Lichtbildanstalt was established as a branch company that produced the Seestern-Lichtbilder, slides for teaching and educational purposes.

Under Nazism

Elert joined the Nazi Party early on and in 1933 separated from Kirstein due to his being Jewish, leaving him with the art publishing house and image production, separate from the Verlag E. A. Seemann. He soon also forced Kirstein's operation to rename itself "Meister der Farbe" (Master of Colours), though the Reich Chamber for Art (Reichskunstkammer) did give it a special permit to stay in business until 1938. On Kirstein's death on 14 February 1934 his widow Cläre took over management of his company but in 1938 Elert exerted his agreed right to repurchase it, though due to a dispute with the Reich Propaganda Ministry this only became legally binding in 1942 - in the meantime, in 1939, Cläre had killed herself.

The company was now solely a book publisher and abandoned colour printing, abandoning its long-held art historical focus to publish Nazi propaganda such as Wilhelm Pinder's On the Nature and Development of German Forms as well as Hans Weigert's Art of Today as a Mirror of the Times and Paul Schultze-Naumburg's Art from Blood and Soil. The 4 December 1943 bombing raid on Leipzig destroyed the publishing house, its photographic studio, all its documents and its printing equipment, with only the colour printing plates being stored at Förster & Borries in Zwickau and other materials and works then outside the main building surviving. This particularly impacted the editorial staff of the "Thieme-Becker" artists' encyclopedia with its extensive library and fifty year old collection of documents - the already completed typesetting of its last volume was destroyed.

Soviet Zone and DDR

Elert had signed over all parts of the company to his sister Irmgard Nußbaum-Seemann (1903–?) in September 1945 before fleeing to what would become West Germany and the occupying powers confirmed her as its owner on 13 February 1946. Kirstein's former half of the company, now renamed "Seemann and Co", was licensed to resume production at the war's end. On 3 December 1946 permission was granted for the company to publish the 'Zeitschrift für Kunst und künstlerische Gestaltung'.

In 1947 the occupiers licensed the company to publish "literature on art, art history, cultural history and intellectual history" but banned Elert from owning it due to his Nazi links, though he did establish a branch of the business in Cologne in the British Occupation Zone and ran it with great difficulties until his death in 1989, partly in collaboration with the main company's headquarters in Leipzig. Irmgard planned to move the company headquarters to Munich (i.e. out of the Soviet Occupation Zone) and moved the surviving "Thieme-Becker" documents and colour printing plates to her "Nautilus" branch in Bavaria, founded in 1949. When this became known she had to flee the German Democratic Republic in February 1952. Verlag E. A. Seemann was seized and on 8 August the same year became state owned as the VEB E. A. Seemann, retaining its founder's name after long disputes with Elert.

The publication of the Zeitschrift für Kunst marked a new beginning and book production continued. The company was also able to re-set, print and deliver the last volume of "Thieme-Becker" in 1947 thanks to a rescued proof. New monographs and art books as well as calendars were included in the program alongside reprints. In 1951, the E. A. Seemann Verlag was assigned the house at Jacobstrasse 6 in Leipzig as its new publishing house. Alongside the Verlag der Kunst in Dresden and the Henschelverlag Kunst und Gesellschaft, the E. A. Seemann Verlag handled the majority of art book production in the GDR. It was initially managed by Otto Halle, then from 1954 by Gerhard Keil (1922–1997). He built E. A. Seemann into the leading art publisher in the GDR.

After the completion of the "Thieme-Becker", which no longer listed artists born after 1870, it became necessary to supplement and update the work. Hans Vollmer took on this task. Within eight years he produced six further volumes, which were published between 1953 and 1962 under the title General Encyclopedia of Visual Artists of the 20th Century. The "Thieme-Becker-Vollmer" is still being reprinted unchanged to this day. At the end of the 1960s, work began on a new edition, the General Artist Encyclopedia of Visual Artists of All Times and Peoples (AKL), which was initially planned to consist of 30 volumes. Due to the inadequate technical equipment and the limited use of libraries outside the GDR, the publication of the first volume took until 1983; Volumes 2 and 3 followed every three years. Since 1 April 1991, the work has been continued by K. G. Saur Verlag. 99 volumes of the AKL have now been published, with the three volumes still published by E. A. Seemann Verlag being reprinted in four volumes for reasons of standardization.

One of the publisher's major art encyclopedias was the Lexikon der Kunst (Lexicon of Art) founded by Gerhard Strauß, which appeared in five volumes between 1968 and 1978. The first volume of a new edition of the encyclopedia, under the responsibility of Harald Olbrich as chief editor, was published in 1987, the seventh and final volume appeared in 1994.

In the 1970s, E. A. Seemann Verlag began a new major project, the Geschichte der deutschen Kunst (History of German Art). The first volume of the work, which was written by art historians from several universities and the Academy of Sciences of the GDR, was published in 1981. Under the leadership of Friedrich Möbius (Jena), Ernst Ullmann (Leipzig), Harald Olbrich (Berlin), Peter H. Feist (Berlin) and others, ten extensive volumes were published by 1990, covering individual art periods from the Middle Ages to the present. The volumes also reflect the methodological diversity of art historical research in the second half of the 20th century. Due to the onset of the economic crisis, the project had to be abandoned in 1990.

In addition to Seemann's large art calendar (Seemanns großem Kunstkalender), there was the monthly calendar The beautiful detail (Das schöne Detail) and three differently oriented postcard calendars from the end of the 1960s. An important part of the publishing program continued to be painting reproductions, which were published by, among others, Seemann and Feist. were sold in a collection of pictures for wall decoration.

1990-present

After 1989, the publishing house was administered by a trustee for a while until Silvius Dornier acquired the publishing house and incorporated it into the newly founded Dornier Medienholding based in Berlin in the summer of 1992. The publishing house's editorial department and production remained in Leipzig. The name E. A. Seemann was also retained. Series such as the Kunstgeschichtliche Städtebücher, the Beiträge zur Kunstwissenschaft, the Baudenkmale issues and also the Leipziger Blätter, which has been published since the mid-1980s, grew with new editions. However, most of these series were discontinued in the 1990s. The complete range of calendars also appeared for the last time in 1992.

In addition to the Lexicon of Art, one-volume reference works were published, Seemann's Small Art Encyclopedia (1994) and Seemann's Encyclopedia of Architecture (1994). Classics of art practice were republished in the Art and Design series, including Max Doerner's Painting Materials and Their Use from 1921, John Gage's study of the Language of Colors and authors such as Johannes Itten and Gottfried Bammes.

The Dornier Media Holding separated from the art and culture publishers it had taken over in 1992, which included E. A. Seemann, the publishers Edition Leipzig and Henschel. On 1 April 2003, the partners Bernd Kolf and Jürgen A. Bach acquired the three publishing houses and re-established them as Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG, which was joined in summer 2004 by the traditional Leipzig publishing house Koehler & Amelang. The company's headquarters are in Leipzig.

The world's most comprehensive artist encyclopedia, the "Thieme-Becker-Vollmer" (as a CD-ROM), completed in 1960, and the seven-volume "Encyclopedia of Art" are still in print, and study editions of both works have also been published. Other one-volume encyclopedias on various topics in the visual arts are also in the program, such as the "Encyclopedia of Symbols" (2003), the "Encyclopedia of Ornaments" (2004), Stefan Dürre's "Encyclopedia of Sculpture" (2007) and Brigitte Riese's "Encyclopedia of Iconography" (2007). Monographs are now being published in a series of paperback volumes on individual masterpieces of art history. With contributions by Barbara John on Max Klinger - Beethoven (2004) and Caspar David Friedrich - Chalk Cliffs on Rügen (2005) and by Roland Krischel on Stefan Lochner - The Mother of God in the Rose Bower (2006), it has also revived an old publishing tradition.

After the Seemann Henschel publishing group filed for insolvency on 1 March 2017, it was taken over by Michael Kölmel, the owner of Zweitausendeins, on 1 October 2017. Annika Bach has been managing director and publisher since 2017.

The publisher's archive material from the years 1864 to 1995 is now in the Leipzig State Archives.

Bibliography (in German)

  • Hundert Jahre im Dienste der Kunst! Tradition, festliche Besinnung und Perspektive des VEB E. A. Seemann in Leipzig. In: Börsenblatt für den deutschen Buchhandel (Leipzig) 125, 1958, S. 806–808.
  • Alfred Langer: Kunstliteratur und Reproduktion. 125 Jahre Seemann-Verlag im Dienste der Erforschung und Verbreitung der Kunst. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1983.
  • Reinhard Würffel: Lexikon deutscher Verlage von A–Z. 1071 Verlage und 2800 Verlagssignete; vom Anfang der Buchdruckerkunst bis 1945. Adressen, Daten, Fakten, Namen. Verlag Grotesk, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-9803147-1-5, S. 800–803.
  • P. Neumann: Seemann, E. A. In: Lexikon des gesamten Buchwesens. 2. Auflage, Band 7, Stuttgart 2007, S. 44.
  • "Ute Willer, Susanne Müller-Wolff, 150 Jahre E. A. Seemann. Die Geschichte des ältesten deutschen Kunstverlages. 1858–2008 (E. A. Seemann: Leipzig, 2008)" (PDF).
  • Ulrich Faure: 150 Jahre E. A. Seemann. In: Aus dem Antiquariat 2008, Nr. 1, S. 28–30.
  • Ralph Gambihler: Im Land der Schachtelhalme. Der Seemann Verlag und seine Geschichte ab 1945. In: Leipziger Blätter 2008, Nr. 52, S. 38–40.
  • Christoph Links: Das Schicksal der DDR-Verlage. Die Privatisierung und ihre Konsequenzen. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-523-2, S. 160–163.
  • Lothar Poethe (2010), "Seemann, Ernst Arthur", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 24, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 153–154; (full text online)
  • Lothar Poethe (2010), "Seemann, Arthur", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 24, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 154–155; (full text online)

References

  1. (in German) Curt Vinz, Günter Olzog: Dokumentation deutschsprachige Verlage. 8. Ausgabe, Günter Olzog, München/Wien 1983, S. 358.
  2. (in German) Verlagsgruppe Seemann Henschel files for insolvency, Buchmarkt, 9 March 2017.
  3. (in German) Leipziger Bücher. Future for Seemann and Henschel. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 30, 2017, p. 14; "Under a cultural roof". Börsenblatt. Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels. 2017-10-24. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
  4. (in German) Annika Bach on the new start of E. A. Seemann, Buchmarkt December 17, 2017.

External links

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