CRAMERS COLLECTION
Masterful down to the last detail
Artworks of unparalleled splendour.
Seventy years after it was first created, the world-famous CRAMERS COLLECTION is now available for sale in its entirety, as a single unit. Comprising 2,000 original watercolors, it is a collection of outstanding artistic and scientific significance.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a unique private collection that documents the natural world with great artistry and scientific rigor. The paintings in the collection are masterpieces, capturing the breath-taking beauty and diversity of nature to stunning effect.
“Our aim must be to present a work finished to a standard of perfection that the world has never seen before.“
Erich Cramer (publisher and initiator of the collection)
The ultimate expression of nature’s beauty
In 1950, the Hamburg publisher Erich Cramer conceived of a grand vision to capture the wondrous beauty of nature on paper in living detail for all to enjoy. It remains, to this day, a project of unrivaled daring and scope. The next 20 or so years witnessed the creation of over 2,000 consummately detailed works of art depicting the most beautiful plants, animals, fungi and minerals, rare and well-known alike. For this project, Erich Cramer commissioned only the best artists and illustrators of the time.
The CRAMERS COLLECTION is on a par with works by world-famous artists such as Pierre-Joseph Redoute or Maria Sibylla Merian.
Flora and fauna in all their diversity
The collection includes works that take in a broad sweep of the flora and fauna of Central Europe, highlighting the amazing species diversity of the region’s natural environment.
Many of the species depicted have since become extinct or are threatened with extinction – a fact that makes these works uniquely significant. They document a natural environment that is intact in a way that we may perhaps never see again. This collection is truly special, offering a snapshot of nature without parallel anywhere in the world.
Claus Caspari 1964
„This collection is truly special and is probably the largest private collection of its kind in the world. It remains without peer to this day.“
(Hannelore ‘Loki’ Schmidt, wife of the former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt)
Art and science in perfect harmony
The defining feature of the CRAMERS COLLECTION is that it is the result of close collaboration between artists and leading scientists, each of them experts in their field. The purpose of the collaboration was to help the artists capture and artistically depict their subjects as true to nature as possible. The scientists and artists alike were accorded generous time and financial budgets so that they could achieve this aim.
Accordingly, close bonds of partnership were forged between the artists and scientific institutions such as the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, the Bavarian State Collections for Zoology and Botany, the State Zoological Institute of Hamburg, the University of Hamburg, the Berlin Museum of Natural Science and the Berlin Zoo. Realizing the bold objectives of this collaboration in every last detail involved months of discussions, revisions and, in some cases, complete re-draws.
Details and key information
The privately owned CRAMERS COLLECTION comprises 2,000 dry brush watercolors documenting 2,719 different types of minerals and species of birds, mammals, insects, fungi, plants, fish and reptiles.
A large part of the collection consists of works by the following noted artists:
- Wilhelm Eigener (1904 -1982)
- Claus Caspari (1911-1980)
- Franz Murr (1887-1964)
- Ludwig Binder (1911-1968)
- Karl Großmann (1919-1978).
The necessary scientific advice and support was provided principally by Dr Katharina Heinroth, Dr Joachim Steinbacher, Dr Josef Poelt, Dr Hermann Jahn, Dr Theodor Haltenorth and Dr Erna Mohr. The supporting material also includes extensive contractual documentation regarding the creation of the paintings, including the fees paid to the artists, and valuations.
Many of this paintings are also charming time capsules, bearing handwritten notes by the contributing scientists and painters or the publisher. In most cases, these notes are on the reverse side, although in some cases they are on the front.
All subjects in this collection are depicted in the same format: 24 x 33 cm. The paintings are watercolours on paper, created between 1952 and 1972. The originals have been stored for 70 years under ideal conditions in safe-storage cabinets and are in excellent condition.
More than 300 of the originals in the collection have never been published. Digital copies of all the paintings have been created and are stored in a database.
The buyer of this collection will also acquire the entire image repository of a publishing house (Kronen Verlag Hamburg), as well as CRAMERS Gallery of Nature S.a.g.l., the largest digital archive of nature illustrations in Europe, and all further rights to use the images, including the right to sell rights/licenses to use the images.
Provenance of the collection
The CRAMERS COLLECTION has been in the ownership of Susanne de Zarobé, the daughter of Erich Cramer, since 1995. She now wishes to sell in its entirety the collection created by her father.
Karl Großmann 1956
„A painting of a bird is well executed and true to life
if you can almost feel the softness of its feathers
and smell their fresh scent.“
„A painting of a bird is well executed and true to life if you can almost feel the softness of its feathers and smell their fresh scent.“
Ludwig Binder
Opportunities and possibilities
The sale of the CRAMERS COLLECTION presents a wealth of opportunities and possibilities for the right buyer.
This private collection offers great value and is highly desirable, both for educational and scientific purposes, as well as for commercial use.
This collection would, for example, be an asset for institutions of natural science or museums seeking to expand their collections.
It would also be of immense value to public or private-sector organizations involved in nature conservation.
This collection could be used as a form of scientific documentation in the disciplines of botany, zoology and mineralogy, and as an adjunct to educational and research projects and publications.
These paintings could also be used as visual aids for exhibitions and in science communication, and as tools for helping to create audio-visual programs and interactive content.
And last but not least, of course this Cramers Collection is also a treasure chest of nature for the private art collector.
Complete collection of images
Please have a look at the website www.cramers-gallery.com to see all the images in the collection.
Additional material will be provided on request to better assess the scope, potential use and value of the collection.
Price on enquiry
Contact for buyer enquiries and questions: