A golden ART edition for the Duchess Anna Amalia Library

https://www.thueringer-allgemeine.de/kultur/literatur/goldene-bibel-an-weimarer-bibliothek-uebergeben-id224943375.html

The Klassik Stiftung Weimar received a unique art Bible in a ceremony. Pictures are their language. It is as much art as the Bible and offers people an unprecedented approach. The Wiedmann Bible lets the stories of the Old and New Testaments speak through pictures and is therefore unique in the world.

Since December 11th, the Duchess Anna Amalia Library of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar has owned one of the limited Wiedmann Bible ART editions. The artist's son, Martin Wiedmann, presented it to library director Dr. Reinhard Laube, who received the Art Bible on behalf of the institution.

“The Wiedmann Bible is an impressive work that is an excellent addition to the biblical collection of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, an archive and research library for literary and cultural history. We are pleased about this extraordinary gift with an artistic access to the Bible worlds and the Luther text, which is now handed down in our house and is accessible to the public,” said Laube.

Willy Wiedmann worked on the artwork for 16 years (1984-2000). He painted all 3,333 pictures in the style of polycon painting, which he had developed in the 1960s. However, Wiedmann did not manage to publish his work during his lifetime. Back then, printing technology was not as advanced as it is today. His son, Martin Wiedmann, discovered the 1.2 km long Leporello after his father's death; stowed in four boxes in his gallery loft. He took up the challenge of continuing his dream and publishing the Wiedmann Bible. To do this, he had all 3,333 images digitized. Initially, a multimedia Bible world was created. With the ART edition, Wiedmann's last wish came true: the publication of his work as a book.

"It is an honor for me to be able to hand over my father's work to this institution that is steeped in tradition and has a significant cultural history," says Martin Wiedmann. “Art, literature and culture have always played an important role for him. He breathed for her - he lived for her."

The ART edition was created in collaboration with the German Bible Society and the renowned photographer and designer Manfred Rieker. The edition contains the complete pictures of the original and is supplemented by commentaries, a biography of the artist and various Bible verses from the revised Luther Bible 2017.

The gold edition is limited to 333 copies, the red and black editions to 3,000. The Bavarian State Library in Munich, the Bibliorama Bible Museum in Stuttgart and the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. (USA), the largest Bible museum in the world, added one of the limited ART editions to its inventory.

https://www.thueringer-allgemeine.de/kultur/literatur/goldene-bibel-an-weimarer-bibliothek-uebergeben-id224943375.html