LETTER Stiftung

The LETTER Foundation is an organization established in 1993 as a non-profit foundation under private law to promote art and culture, including the related aspects of science and research. Its purpose includes the collection, preservation, care, and presentation of visual art works as well as their scientific documentation, study, and publication. The focus lies on lesser-known artists of the so-called second tier and the themes of sculpture (circa 1780–1930), small reliefs (medals, plaquettes), and print graphics around 1875–1930. The foundation maintains a reference library with approximately 60,000 volumes, cooperates with universities and museums, and operates a non-commercial artist’s print workshop in the Münsterland region.

The LETTER Foundation is committed to promoting art and culture in the German-speaking region. It supports the research, documentation, and presentation of visual art testimonies and offers aspiring art historians practical professional experience. Through collaborations with museums, research institutions, and universities, as well as through its own publications in the "LETTER Schriften," it contributes to the scholarly examination of previously neglected artists and art historical phenomena.

The funding programs of the LETTER Foundation are aimed at art historians and research institutions specializing in sculpture, small reliefs, and printmaking; museums and collection institutions that receive objects as exhibition or permanent loans; students and early-career researchers seeking to gain professional experience in the foundation sector through scholarships and internships; as well as artists of original prints who wish to use traditional printing techniques at the LETTER Press.