Thieme-Becker is the commonly used metonymy for the German encyclopedia of artist biographies in 37 parts, with the full title Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, set up by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker and continued by Hans Vollmer.
In the 1950s, the encyclopedia was followed by the Vollmer, full: Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler des XX. Jahrhunderts. Hans Vollmer took the editorial work of the Thieme-Becker in 1923 and remained the only editor until the completion of Part 37 in 1950.
The Thieme-Becker and Vollmer Encyclopedia has now been published in 437 in 1907-1962 by E.A Seemann in Leipzig (37 parts 1907-1950) and Vollmer (6th, 1953-1962). Together with Felix Ulrich Thieme, Becker started in 1898 with preparatory work, thus without government subsidy and without the support of an academy. Thieme had initially decided to finance the work from own resources. The plan was to make a 20-piece work within 12 years and to show the most recent findings. The joint work contains approximately 250,000 biographies compiled with the help of 400 specialists worldwide, including all leading art historians of their time. Information about the artist's background, training, professional development, key works, exhibitions and to literature quotes have been included and, if possible, supplemented by an art historical review.
The special relevance and strength of the Thieme-Becker-Vollmer lies in the limbs about lesser-known and unknown artists, which are hardly mentioned elsewhere, but also by the inclusion of architects, designers and other artists who work in the applied art. Taxations by former art historians are of historical importance. For these reasons, the fifty to one hundred years after the first publication is the most widely used biographical encyclopedia of artists. It was released in 2008 again on DVD.
The Thieme-Becker-Vollmer was the most comprehensive lexicon of artist biographies in his time. It has now been supplemented and partly replaced by the Allgemeine Künstlerlexikon published by the Gruyter and based on the entries in the Thieme-Becker-Vollmer. A new print version is scheduled and can be completed by 2020, an online edition (AKL online) is constantly updated and can be seen as a never ending work-in-progress. The AKL is a standard work of art history for scientists, students, librarians, art dealers, auctionmasters, collectors, and for anyone interested in art.
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