Danner Prize 2020

Contemporary arts and crafts from Bavaria are being shown in a museum of modern art, architecture, graphics and design. Petra Hölscher from Die Neue Sammlung explains that the exhibit for the Danner Prize 2020 focuses on an important aspect of the program of the Pinakothek der Moderne: the interactions between so-called “fine” and applied art.

The exhibition of the Danner Prize 2020 in the Pinakothek in Munich was designed by Isolde Bazlen. Photo: Danner-Foundation, Eva Jünger.

Bettina Dittlmann, Danner Prize 2020, brooch Wohin [Where to], iron, solder, enamel, garnets, pyrite, neodymium magnetic disk. Photo: Danner-Foundation, Eva Jünger.

Endowed with 20,000 euros, the 13th conferral of the Danner Prize in 2020 marked the foundation’s 100th anniversary. The winner was the jewelry artist Bettina Dittlmann with her magnetic brooch Wohin (Where To?). “Without formulating a final shape, Bettina Dittlmann uses magnets in her jewelry to give a new form to residual and nonprecious materials such as tinder, iron filings or iron wire,” said Angelika Nollert, director of the Neue Sammlung. This radical commitment to renewal, participation and change lends social and political relevance to her work, Nollert added. In this sense, her jewelry also invites its wearers to actively shoulder responsibility. Honorary prizes went to Otto Baier for his titanium objects Stromboli and Vulkano, to Peter Bauhuis for four of his Sculpture/Chain objects, to Petra Bittl for her ceramic vessels Paar [Pair] and Wintergestalt [Winter Shape], and to Paul Müller for his candlesticks.

Paul Müller received a Danner Honorary Award 2020 for his slender candleholders. Here the presentation in the exhibition in the Pinakothek der Moderne. Photo: Danner-Foundation, Eva Jünger.

Danner Honorary Prize 2020, Otto Baier, objects Stromboli and Vulkano, 2019. Titanium. Photo: Danner-Foundation, Eva Jünger.

Danner Honorary Prize 2020, Peter Bauhuis, Chain sculptures K5, K6, K7, K9 from chain chained, 2019. 925 silver, silver alloyed with copper, zinc, gold alloy, bronze, Nordic gold. Photo: Danner-Foundation, Eva Jünger.

Danner Honorary prize 2020. Petra Bittl, Paar und Wintergestalt [Pair and Winter Shape] vessels. Stoneware clay, porcelain, salt glaze. Photo: Danner-Foundation, Eva Jünger.

The jury deemed 33 of the 200 participating artisans “worthy of being exhibited.” Also this year it was important to the foundation to “present artisanally and artistically high-quality works in connection with current trends in arts and crafts.” On the occasion of the foundation’s 100th anniversary, the exhibit honors the court goldsmith Karl Rothmüller for his role as an initiator. In addition to the competing works, other objects from the collection of the Danner Foundation are also on display, including a work by Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslavá Brychtová, who founded the Studio Glass movement in Europe. Isolde Bazlen is the exhibition’s curator.

The following participants were also selected for the exhibition: Pit Arens, ceramics; Alexandra Bahlmann, jewelry; Ute Kathrin Beck, ceramics; Veronika Beckh, glass; Roswitha Berger-Gentsch, paper/art; Barbara Butz, ceramics; Christiane Englsberger, textile/hats; Christoph Finkel, wood/art; Anne Fischer, metal/art; Josef Forstmaier, furniture/objects; Doerthe Fuchs, jewelry/objects; Angela Geisenhofer, art; Rita Maria Walburga Große-Ruyken, metal/art; Sebastian Hepp, metal/objects; Askan Hertwig, jewelry/metal; Melanie Isverding, jewelry; Martin Kargruber, sculpture/drawing; Friederike Maltz, metal; Julia Obermaier, jewelry; Cornelius Réer, glass; Gerd Rothmann, jewelry; Catherine Sanke, ceramics/paper/art; Juliane Schölß, metal/art; Bettina Speckner, jewelry; Gisbert Stach, jewelry; Nikolaus Steindlmüller, ceramics/art, Christoph Straube, jewelry; Barbara von Taeuffenbach, jewelry; Peter Verburg, metal/objects; Katharina Velt, ceramics/art; Christine Wagner, ceramics; Christoph Weisshaar, metal/objects; Christiane Wilhelm, ceramics.