THE REBIRTH OF ART AUREA
Unconventional and displaying an eagerness to experiment: the first title pages of Art Aurea from the years 1985 and 1986.
Many jewelry creators, designers, artists, silversmiths and gallery-owners as well as collectors and purchasers of contemporary jewelry and objects will remember the Art Aurea magazine published between 1985 and 1996. Art Aurea, which roughly translates as “golden art”, is the product of my enthusiasm for art jewelry, barely known back then, and for ambitious, artistic craftsmanship. At that time, modern jewelry design was still in its infancy and just learning how to walk. As a young editor-in-chief of a watch magazine I rather accidentally visited an art jewelry exhibition which also included works created by Barbara Plersch and Jan Dix, the son of Otto Dix, the famous German painter. Many of the exhibits were expressive and brightly colorful thanks to the use of acrylic and lacquer. They also differed considerably in terms of volume from the common and well-known industrially manufactured jewelry.
HEADING FOR UNKNOWN SHORES
Shortly afterwards, some Munich-based goldsmiths were looking for an editor for a publication to accompany a jewelry exhibition in Munich’s House of Artists. Since I enjoyed certain liberties at the publishing company in Ulm for which I worked, I produced the publication. I was assisted by a graphic designer who had studied at Schwäbisch Gmünd’s University of Applied Sciences and knew Professor Slevogt’s jewelry class which has been discontinued by now. At the jewelry exhibition in Munich in November 1985, this first Aurea magazine virtually went like hotcakes. The success was so overwhelming that we dared to publish it four times a year. It wasn’t long before the title was complemented by the ambitious little word “Art”.
Art Aurea indeed required a lot of passionate commitment. Innumerable hours of spare time and countless weekends had to be sacrificed writing articles, pasting the layouts and establishing contacts. To do this at the publishing company was hardly possible in the first few years due to lack of time. The weekends also served to visit exhibitions and other events. In the places where the scene met, their members had enthusiastic discussions about art jewelry and its relation to the liberal arts. Jewelry purchasers, however, were in short supply. Yet this did not weaken the pioneering spirit that inspired the scene and was strongly nurtured by Art Aurea.
Looking back, these first Art Aurea years were an essential experience for me and a great personal adventure. In the talks with important goldsmiths such as Friedrich Becker, Hermann Jünger, Max Fröhlich, Peter Skubic, Johanna Dahm and Otto Künzli, with designers such as Carl Dau and Hans-Hermann Lingenbrinck as well as with gallery owners such as Inge Asenbaum, Helen Drutt, Paul Derrez and Jürgen Eickhoff I became acquainted with the different viewpoints of the representatives of modern jewelry culture. Meetings with design and architecture greats such as Alessandro Mendini, Matteo Thun (Memphis Group), Antonio Citterio and Volker Albus broadened my horizon and sharpened my ability to judge design quality.
Aluminum collar designed by Emmy van Leersum in 1967 in Art Aurea’s article on the Dutch avant-garde on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Ra Gallery in Amsterdam in 1986.
The “Affenliebe, Hexenbesen und Samurais” (“Doting Love, Witches’ Brooms and Samurais”) exhibition in 1986 with the “Crusader” created by Esther Knobel, Jerusalem. Title Story in Art Aurea.
JEWELRY AS THE PRODUCT OF A CONTEMPORARY DESIGN CULTURE
From the start I tried to present this new type of jewelry in a holistic, interdisciplinary manner within the context of the applied arts and design: as the product of a contemporary design culture that had much in common with the visual arts, with architecture and the design movements of those years, especially the New German Design movement. Art Aurea also covered ethnological and sociological aspects. We presented the jewelry created by cultures such as the Akha tribe, who were losing their identity precisely due to the influence of civilization, or that of the punk subculture which in the 1980s also caused a stir in Germany’s society. Art Aurea became a great success among its readers and enjoyed cult status within next to no time. In economic terms, however, it was always difficult to ensure recognition for Art Aurea in a publishing company that focuses on advertisement sales.
Two Akha women from northern Thailand. Art Aurea also covered ethnological topics. Photos: Peter Herion. Text: Dr. Richard Bühler
By leaving Ebner Verlag Ulm two years ago I now have the chance of reestablishing Art Aurea in the Institut für Schmuckkultur (Institute for Jewelry Culture). Presented as an online magazine, complemented by the Modern Jewelry Collection concept, it has the opportunity to not only reach specialists but also a large international general public. The goal of Art Aurea, i.e. to be a discerning forum for modern jewelry culture and the applied arts that is open for any important current, remains unchanged. In February 2010 Art Aurea will also come back in the print version. After all, contemporary jewelry design is still a young development, scarcely 50 years old. On a worldwide scale, this alternative concept opposed to common mass-produced jewelry and conventional gem-studded jewelry is hardly perceivable. Nevertheless, this new jewelry as well as the objects of the applied arts have a considerable potential for the future in our modern societies with their emphasis on individualism.
DIALOG AND EDUCATING THE PUBLIC
In an intellectually stimulating manner, Art Aurea will demonstrate the diversity and the development of the modern jewelry culture and related domains such as the silversmithing art and artistically crafted articles of daily use. As an internet portal it will enable an enhanced dialog between the jewelry makers and ambassadors and their public. Jewelry wearers can learn which designers, artists and manufacturers are of interest and why. Here, people searching for artistically designed objects set apart from the mainstream will find what they’re looking for. We want to encourage open-minded women and men to wear interesting, ambitiously designed jewelry and to invest in artistic objects that are endowed with meaning. We want a larger public to know that they will pay comparably low prices for first-rate quality and design and that cheap products, often produced by children in third-world countries, are expensive. And last but not least, Art Aurea will help committed designers, ateliers, shops and medium-sized family-run companies to stay in business and provide meaningful jobs for creative people, both for the young and the young at heart.
At the moment, it is mainly galleries and modern jewelry shops that inform and educate the public about modern jewelry and the applied arts. After all, there are only few media whose editors have an interest in and understanding of modern jewelry and artistically crafted objects. The editors of Art Aurea will try to eliminate this shortcoming. If this is an incentive for competitors in other publishing companies to concern themselves seriously – and not only with regard to advertisement sales – with ambitiously designed jewelry and artistically crafted objects, all the better.
I extend my gratitude to all the participants in the Modern Jewelry Collection, to the board of trustees of the Modern Jewelry Academy and to my colleagues for how much they have encouraged and supported our project so far. I would like to ask all jewelry aficionados and those interested in a discerning jewelry culture and ambitious applied arts to spread the news: Art Aurea is back – at first only on the web and in 2010 also as a printed magazine. Reinhold Ludwig, editor
