FRIEDRICH BECKER PRIZE 2005 TO PETER BAUHUIS IN MUNICH

With the awarding of the Friedrich Becker Prize, a private endowment of 5000 euros donated by Hildegard Becker of Düsseldorf, the Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst e.V. (Society for Goldsmiths’ Art) honors the memory of an exceptional person and important designer, Professor Friedrich Becker (1922-1997).

In accordance with Friedrich Becker’s intentions, this honor has been granted to an artist of the following generation of designers for the third time. 214 artists from 18 countries competed for the Friedrich Becker Prize 2005 with jewelry as well as silver hollow- and flatware. Gold- and silversmiths, jewelry and metal artists, and designers were invited to submit their works of precious metals supplemented with gems, pearls, synthetic stones, or glass. No thematic limitation was specified. As a criterion for the selection of the prizewinner, independent design with the highest level of execution was important to the judges: Professor Rido Busse, of Busse Design Elchingen; Enrico Nagai, goldsmith in Munich; and Dr. Ellen Maurer-Zilioli, conservator of the Neue Sammlung München, Pinakothek der Moderne.

The judges chose the young Munich gold- and silversmith Peter Bauhuis (b. 1965), a graduate of the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Münchenin the jewelry and silverware class under Professor Otto Künzli. On May 21, at the Goethe-Museum in Düsseldorf, Peter Bauhuis was presented with the Friedrich Becker Prize 2005 for his dish cast in silver and fine silver, which is conspicuous for its exceptional surface effect and formal design. The laudation was given by Dr. Rüdiger Joppien, Head Conservator of the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg.

In addition to the prizewinner, the judges decided to award honorable mentions to four artists: Michael Becker of Munich, Maike Dahl of Hannover, Heidi Schulze-Merian of Bonn, and A.S. Lemburg of Hamburg.

The prizewinning work by Peter Bauhuis and the honorable mention pieces along with other selected objects from the competition by the following artists were exhibited in the Goethe-Museum: Ines Arndt, Eppertshausen (D) – Annemie De Corte, Hamme (B) – Inga Maren Decker, Wuppertal (D) – Sam Tho Duong, Pforzheim (D) – Christine Eberhardt, Schwäbisch Gmünd (D) – Peter Frank, Freiburg (D) – Geoffrey Giles, Candler (USA) – Paul De Haas, Idar-Oberstein (D) – Susanne Heckwolf, Münster (D) – Adelheid Helm, Munich (D) – Jenny Henze, Bremen (D) – Ike Jünger, Pöring (D) – Ulla und Martin Kaufmann, Hildesheim (D) – Yeonkyung Kim, Remchingen (D) – Ludwig Menzel, Berlin (D) – Elke Mohaupt, Kottgeisering (D) – Giancarlo Montebello, Milan (I) – Christina Pott, Hanau (D) – Elke Schmid, Hanau (D) – Renate Schmid, Augsburg (D) – Caroline von Steinau-Steinrück, Munich (D) – Sabine Steinhäusler, Nuremberg (D) – Anneli Tammik, Tallinn (Estonia) – Henriette und Martin Tomasi, Puchheim/Munich (D) – Martina Tornow, Rodenbach (D) – Meike Wendt, Darmstadt (D).

For further information, please contact:
Dr. Christianne Weber-Stöber, Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst e.V. Hanau
Tel (+49) 6181 – 256556 Fax (+49) 6181 – 256554
E-Mail: gfg-hanau@t-online.de

Peter Bauhuis

was born in 1965 in Friedrichshafen (D) and currently works and lives in Munich. Following his training as a goldsmith at the Staatliche Zeichenakademie Hanau (1986-1990), he studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich in the jewelry and silverware class under Professor Otto Künzli (1993-1999) where he was honored with the designation “master student” in 1998. He completed his studies and graduated with a diploma in 2000. Since 1999, he has been working as an artist in his own studio.

In the jewelry and silverware by Peter Bauhuis, experimentation with the casting process and the fusing of metals has been emphasized. Some of the various-sized dishes and pots have small “feet” which served as pouring gates during the casting process. The surfaces are slightly uneven and are sometimes covered with randomly formed patterns or fine cracks giving the pieces a sense of the archaic and elemental. His brooches cast in the lost-wax technique form a delicate web. In spite of their dominant materiality, these jewels radiate incredible lightness.

Since 1990, jewelry and silverware by Peter Bauhuis have been featured in one-man-shows in Germany, Denmark, Austria, the United States, Italy, and Switzerland. The Gallery Funaki in Melbourne, Australia, showed a selection of his works in spring 2005 under the title Melbourne Seria.

The artist has been repeatedly invited to take part in group exhibitions since 1993. In 2000, 2002, and 2003, Peter Bauhuis was among the participants at the International Arts and Crafts Fair in Munich (special exhibition: Masters of the Modern), and in 2001, he was represented in the traveling exhibition of the 13th Silver Triennial. The annual fair of North German applied arts at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg invited Bauhuis to display his work as a “guest” in the Arts and Crafts Show 2002. In 2004 and 2005, the works of the artist were displayed at the “collect” art fair for contemporary objects at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Jewelry and silverware by Peter Bauhuis have been honored with several prizes: in 1996, 3rd prize in the contest “Granulation – International Jewelry Competition” in Hanau and Pforzheim; in 2000, the “Debutant Prize” of the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München; the promotional prize of the Bertha Heraeus and Kathinka Platzhoff Foundation in Hanau; in 2001, the promotional prize of the City of Munich and the City of Friedrichshafen; and in 2004, the Bavarian studio promotion program.

Bauhuis’s works are included in public collections at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg and the Okresni Museum Cheskeho raie Turnov in the Czech Republic.

Catalog:
Peter Bauhuis. Schmuck und Gefäss.
Text by Monika Gaspar, Barcelona (German/English)
20.5 x 24.5 cm, 52 pages, 42 color illustrations
Edition Galerie s o Solothurn (CH), ISBN 3-033-00193-9, price 27.00 euros

To order, contact: peter.bauhuis@artfree.de