Leseprobe

Introduction to the “Transparent Figures” collection holdings all of the existing audio cassettes fall into this second category and can be identified as copies of an older audio tape recording. Fol- lowing discontinuation of production of the Transparent Figures, the audio tapes initially remained in the mechanical workshop of the museum and were ultimately transferred into the museum collection in several drawers. However, they had already not been in use for a long time. Bearing witness to the (worldwide) presentation of Transparent Fig- ures are the more than 150 advertising brochures, (exhibition) post- ers, sales catalogues and merchandising products also belonging to the collection, which encompass the entire production period of the Transparent Figures. The objects illustrate the targeted advertising strategies of the DHMD for popularising the figures from the first presentation at the 2nd International Hygiene Exhibition (IHA) of 1930 to their use as museum merchandising products in the 2000s. Selected objects from the collection on the “Transparent Figures” will be presented in the following catalogue section. The full figures will be presented on the basis of newly produced object photographs and object biographies with an overview charac- ter. More than 60 selected objects and object groups of the set will be explained in detail in four areas of focus. These make clear the range and complex preservation contexts of the Transparent Figures. The following four areas of focus that resulted from involvement with the set appear central: ❚ The manufacturing processes and techniques for the creation of a Transparent Human in the “Transparent Figures” workshop ❚ The exhibition history of the transparent body models in the health education of the 20th century ❚ The media staging of the Transparent Humans and Animals with audio lectures ❚ The use of the figures as advertising media and trademarks of the museum The substantial set with the title “Collection on the Transparent Figures” is available to the public for research through the online database of the museum under https://sammlung.dhmd.digital . Each object of the collection holdings has an inventory number (inv. no.) that serves the purpose of identification. 1 These include: Transparent Man, Transparent Woman, Transparent Pregnant Woman, the torso of a Transparent Pregnant Woman in two different versions, Transparent Torso, Trans- parent Horse, Transparent Cow, Transparent Cell in small and large formats. 2 The photographs of exhibitions from the period of National Socialism 1933–1945 found in the collection of the DHMD were already digitalised in 2006 in a project sponsored by the Sächsische Landesstelle für Museumswesen (state agency of Saxony for museology). The project report can be viewed in the library of the DHMD. See Nürnberg, Kaspar/Scheffler, Michaela: Fotografien zur Dokumentation der Wanderausstellungen des Deutschen Hy- giene-Museums in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus. Ein Projekt der Sammlung des Deutschen Hygiene-Museums Dresden, Dresden 2006, signature: Hyg. A III 16/549. 3 Around 5,000 negatives and slides are matched by a similar number of photo prints. These prints are usually reproductions of existing negatives. ADVERTISING MATERIALS AND SALES CATALOGUES PRESENTATION OF THE COLLECTION ON THE “TRANSPARENT FIGURES” IN THE CATALOGUE SECTION 135