Beate Kuhn

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Beate Kuhn, 2004

Beate Kuhn (born July 15, 1927 in Düsseldorf ; † December 10, 2015 ) was a German ceramist and sculptor.

Life

Beate Kuhn was born in Düsseldorf as the daughter of the sculptor Erich Kuhn (1890–1967) and the pianist Lisa Kuhn. During the Second World War , the family was bombed out and moved to Hinterzarten in the Black Forest . After graduating from high school in Neustadt in 1946 , she studied art history from 1947 to 1949 at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and from 1949 to 1951 at the Werkkunstschule in Wiesbaden ceramics with Erika Opitz and Hans Karl Starke; She completed this training with the journeyman's examination. From 1951 to 1953 he studied ceramics with F. Th. Schroeder at the Werkkunstschule in Darmstadt .

From 1953 to 1956 Beate Kuhn worked in Lottstetten near Waldshut ; there she founded a workshop community with Karl Scheid (* 1929). In 1956 the joint workshop moved to Düdelsheim , today a district of Büdingen ; three years later, Ursula Scheid (1932–2008), also a ceramicist, joined them. In 2006, the 50th anniversary of this workshop community, to which the wood sculptor Bernhard Vogler and, for some years now, Sebastian Scheid (son of Karl and Ursula Scheid), who is also a ceramist, also belong, was celebrated with a big party.

Since 1983 Beate Kuhn has been a member of Gruppe 83, a group of German ceramists to which only members of the Académie Internationale de la Céramique (AIC) in Geneva can belong.

plant

Beate Kuhn, 2012

From 1953 to 1957, Beate Kuhn designed asymmetrical porcelain vases for Rosenthal AG . As early as the end of the 1950s, the artist began to move away from the vessel as a mere everyday object, even if she never gave up the idea of ​​the vessel entirely. Early on, she used vessels as a painting surface for abstract figure representations, which together with the vessel form an anthropomorphic overall figure. Soon abstract forms emerged, which are all assembled from turned parts, but can be described more as spatial sculptures. The size of the individual pieces varies from small vases to monumental fountains and wall-filling reliefs (e.g. in the Hetjens Museum in Düsseldorf and in the Keramion in Frechen ). There are also figurative representations of animals (especially cats), which, however, are also assembled from turned parts.

The artist stated that, on the one hand, she was repeatedly inspired by nature studies, which she then translated into abstract shapes. Extensive sketches are often made for this purpose. The titles of the works often allude to observations of nature (“Nebel im Wald”, “Busch am Bach”, “Bunter Baum”, “Monster Relief” etc.), which, however, are only assigned to certain pieces afterwards. There are also many names that have a touch of humor (e.g. "Parliament of the Nasobeme", "Breast Book", "Trumpet Tower") as well as programmatic cycles that are assigned to certain topics (e.g. "Noah's Ark") , "The four Seasons"). - Another source of inspiration is contemporary classical music; the artist named u. a. Giacinto Scelsi , Luigi Nono , Luciano Berio and many other composers, whose works she also regularly heard at work.

Beate Kuhn has developed an unmistakable style since the 1950s, to which she has always remained true. Within her personal style, however, an immense variety of forms of expression has emerged. Even in old age, the artist does not shy away from experiments and keeps turning to new areas - both in terms of the subject matter and the materials (e.g. the inclusion of glass plates in her ceramic sculptures, repeated experiments with a wide variety of glazes, etc. .). The director of the KERAMION Museum, Gudrun Schmidt-Esters, who is also the chairman of the Keramion Foundation, headed her contribution in the catalog to the exhibition on the occasion of the 80th birthday at the Keramion Frechen with the words: “The equality of the different”.

Working in museums

In addition to a huge number of private collections, Beate Kuhn is represented in all the important arts and crafts museums in Germany and in many museums around the world; In addition to the already mentioned (Hetjens Museum and Keramion) include: Castle Museum Aschaffenburg , Pottery Museum Berlin , Museum of Decorative Arts Berlin , art collections of the Veste Coburg , Museum of Modern Ceramic Deidesheim (since 1993 Country Rheinland-Pfalz , collection Hinder / Reimers ) Museum for arts and crafts Frankfurt am Main , Museum for Arts and Crafts Hamburg , Kestner Museum Hanover , Collection of Hoechst AG , Ceramic Museum Westerwald Höhr-Grenzhausen, Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe , Museum for Applied Arts Cologne , GRASSI Museum for Applied Arts Leipzig , Kunsthalle Mannheim , State Museum for Art and Cultural History Oldenburg , Cultural History Museum Osnabrück , Foundation Schleswig-Holstein State Museums Schloss Gottorf ( Schleswig ), Emslandmuseum Schloss Clemenswerth ( Sögel ), Württembergisches Landesmuseum Stuttgart , Musée Ariana Geneva , Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi Istanbul , Victoria and Albert Museum London , Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam , Taipei Fine Arts Museum, National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo , Museum Bellerive Zurich .

Solo exhibitions (selection)

Important solo exhibitions included a .:

  • 1957: Galleria Totti Milan
  • 1960: City Museum Ludwigshafen am Rhein (with wooden sculptures of the father Erich Kuhn)
  • since 1968: Participation in numerous exhibitions at home and abroad, often together with Karl and Ursula Scheid, Gerald and Gotlind Weigel and Margarete Schott - e.g. B. Regular participation in the exhibitions of the London group
  • since 1969: regular participation in the exhibition Form und Glasur in the Jahrhunderthalle (Frankfurt am Main)
  • 1982: Keramion Frechen
  • since 1983: Participation in the exhibitions of Group 83
  • 1989: Museum of Arts and Crafts in Frankfurt am Main
  • 1990: Museum Eckernförde
  • 1997: Lauenburgischer Kunstverein in the old town hall in Mölln
  • 2002: Workshop exhibition in Düdelsheim on the occasion of the 75th birthday
  • 2007: 1.) Keramion Frechen 2.) Gallery Rosi Jäger in Hochheim am Main 3.) International Museum in Weiden in the Upper Palatinate
  • 2010: Galerie Bruno11 and in Schloss Büdingen
  • 2017: Pinakothek der Moderne Munich, exhibition title: "BEATE KUHN - CERAMICS FROM THE FREIBERGER COLLECTION"
  • 2018: Galerie Esther Schipper in Berlin, exhibition title: "Ceramic plastic - BEATE KUHN"

Awards

literature

  • Adalbert Klein: What does "modern" mean today in the art of ceramics? , Reports of the German Ceramic Society, Volume 48 (1971), Issue 1, January 1971

Web links

Commons : Beate Kuhn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Website of the internet portal for applied arts akène - on the occasion of an exhibition for the 80th birthday of the artist numerous images of works by Beate Kuhn are available
  • Keramion in Frechen

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary notice Beate Kuhn , FAZ , December 19, 2015
  2. ↑ Homepage group 83
  3. ↑ BEATE KUHN - CERAMICS FROM THE FREIBERGER COLLECTION | THE PINAKOTHEKEN. Retrieved November 4, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Ceramic plastic | Beate Kuhn. Accessed April 14, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Kuhn, Beate
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German ceramist
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 2015