Kurt Aepli
Kurt Aepli (born May 14, 1914 in Rapperswil ; † December 22, 2002 in Uznach ) was a Swiss silversmith , jewelry and equipment designer and professional educator .
Life
Kurt Aepli completed his training as a silversmith at the Zurich School of Applied Arts from 1934–1939. With the war mobilization , he did four years of active service. In the Meinrad Burch-Korrodi workshop , which he joined in 1942, he soon developed his own, unmistakable design language as chief designer , by which his jewelry , but above all his sacred implements, can be recognized. In the field of sacred art , he shaped the second half of the 20th century in a pioneering manner in Switzerland, at the same time as the well-known church builder Fritz Metzger or the painter Ferdinand Gehr , whom he thought very highly of. It is no coincidence that the climax of his work fell in the ecclesiastical spirit of optimism before and during the Second Vatican Council , which took place in 1962–1965. The economic upswing after the war years was undoubtedly beneficial for the jewelry industry , because when Christopher Trudel the company in 1967 took over from Meinrad Burch, Kurt Aepli had already established such that jeweler Trudel gave him virtually unlimited creative freedom. From 1946 to 1980 Kurt Aepli was a member of the Schweizerischer Werkbund (the SWB sees itself as a place for debates about design issues). In the thirties, like so many successful designers of the time, he was influenced by the Zurich School of Concrete . Artists such as Johannes Itten , Max Bill and Richard P. Lohse , but also the Bauhaus movement clearly shaped Kurt Aepli and accompanied his creative work throughout his life.
plant
Both the technical and the creative contribution of Aeplis were decisive for the success of the companies Burch-Korrodi and Trudel Juwelier. Even under Meinrad Burch, the almost legendary “ goldsmith triumvirate ” developed in the studio , in which Kurt Aepli (chief designer), Martin Bucher ( studio manager ) and Berger Bergersen ( enameller ) were on the same level in terms of subject, understood and complemented each other in an interdisciplinary manner.
When trying to describe Aepli's style, we can speak of a further development of the modern , the Bauhaus style and the Art Deco . With scientific care, compositions were created from sheet metal, square and round wire , which were systematically based on the basic geometric shapes. But the study of nature and its creations can also be read from the works of his decades of creative activity. One of his most important thoughts was: nature knows no wrong shapes, colors or tones. With the inclusion of the mostly very high quality materials, their dynamics were exploited to the maximum. With safety and calculation, he always limited the lines to the bare essentials, which made the highest demands in terms of execution.
Jewelery , often with unusual precious stones and sacred implements , was created by him under Burch-Korrodi and later under jeweler Trudel. In addition to designing, he often lent a hand in the silversmith's work.
Although the buyers consisted of enthusiasts and international collectors , Kurt Aepli's name was hardly known to the public. For decades, his creative work was only mentioned under the name of the Burch-Korrodi workshop. He suffered from this prescribed anonymity for a long time. However, he has shaped gold and silversmiths far beyond the borders of German-speaking Switzerland , especially north of the Alpine region with his unmistakable designs. He set standards in jewelry and device design.
Educational activity
In 1945 Kurt Aepli was elected as a specialist teacher for goldsmiths , silversmiths , chiselers , engravers , belt makers , gem setters , jewelery designers and Poliseusses at the Zurich School of Applied Arts, which was under the direction of Johannes Itten until 1954 . All apprentices of these professions from school Zurich region were by Kurt Aepli in the professional customer , gemology through to technical drawing taught. In addition to the so-called compulsory lessons, Aepli also worked in advanced training courses at the arts and crafts school . In these courses, members of the industry were able to acquire further training in silversmithing techniques, whereby the creative skills of Kurt Aepli were particularly valued by the course participants and left their mark on them. In April 1980, his thirty-five years of teaching at the Zurich School of Applied Arts ended.
exhibition
Swiss National Museum in Zurich: Swiss jewelry in the 20th century
literature
- Antoinette Riklin-Schelbert: Jewelry Drawing Switzerland 20th Century
- Karl Iten: A New Form - The Goldsmith Meinrad Burch-Korrodi 1897–1978 and his workshop
- Swiss St. Luke Society: Sacred Art Volume I
- Graham Hughes: Modern Silver, Throughout Wold 1880-1967
- Peter Widmer: Kurt Aepli - a great designer and educator (Gold'or 02/03)
- Peter Widmer: Artist and Educator Kurt Aepli Leaves a Great Legacy (Professional Jeweler, July 2004)
- Ulla Stöver: Email, art out of fire
- Ernst A. and Jean Heiniger: The Great Book of Jewels
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Widmer: Kurt Aepli - a great designer and educator Gold'Or, issue 2/03, pp. 158–159.
- ↑ Swiss St. Luke Society: Sacred art - gold and silver work from the Meinrad Burch-Korrodi workshop , Echter Verlag, Würzburg 1954, p. 175.
- ↑ Hanspeter Lanz: Swiss silver treasure - gold and silversmithing from the Swiss National Museum. Tésors d'orfèvrerie suisse - Les collections du Musée national suisse , Info Verlag GmbH Karlsruhe 2004, p. 202. ISBN 3-908025-90-7
- ^ Antoinette Riklin-Schelbert, Jewelry Drawing Switzerland 20th Century – 20th Century Swiss Art Jewelry, VGS Verlagsgemeinschaft, St. Gallen 1999, p. 59, ISBN 3-7291-1093-4
- ^ Hanspeter Lanz: A modern artist . Neue Zürcher Zeitung, January 3rd, 2003 edition.
- ↑ Peter Widmer: Kurt Aepli - a great designer and educator Gold'Or, issue 2/03, pp. 158–159.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aepli, Kurt |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss silversmith, jewelry and equipment designer and professional educator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 14, 1914 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rapperswil |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 22, 2002 |
| Place of death | Uznach |