Bundesarchiv Bild 183-71925-0001, Kunstpreises der DDR, Wolfgang Frankenstein, Inge Keller, Vogt

The Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic (German: ''Kunstpreis der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik'') was an East German state award bestowed on individuals for contributions in various fields of art.

History

The Art Prize was annually awarded in recognition of "outstanding creative and interpretive achievements" in

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

applied arts The applied arts are all the arts that apply design and decoration to everyday and essentially practical objects in order to make them aesthetically pleasing."Applied art" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Art''. Online edition. Oxford Univers ...

, cinema, television, radio and entertainment. It could be conferred to individual recipients or in collective, to groups of no more than six people. The recipients were awarded a silver-coated metal medal, 20 millimeter in diameter, with the inscription ''Kunstpreis''. Beside it, a single grantee would also be entitled to a sum of 6,000

East German Mark The East German mark (german: Mark der DDR ), commonly called the eastern mark (german: Ostmark, links=no ) in West Germany and after reunification), in East Germany only ''Mark'', was the currency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germa ...

s, while a collective would get a sum as high as 20,000. The Art Prize was the country's highest honor for artists, and was outranked only by the

National Prize of East Germany The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) (german: Nationalpreis der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik) was an award of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, ...

. It was first awarded by Minister of Culture

Alexander Abusch Alexander Abusch (14 February 1902 27 January 1982) was a German journalist, non-fiction writer, and politician. According to one source he was born into a Jewish family in Kraków, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary. Accordin ...

to nineteen recipients, on 22 January 1959. The Ministry's decree declared that it was bestowed "in recognition of outstanding and unique artistic achievements and for promotion of artistic creativity." The Art Prize was conferred twice more during the year, in April and October. It was again awarded thrice during 1960, in March, October and December. From 1961, it was conferred only once every year, on varying months. The last presentation ceremony took place on the night of 3 October 1990, just before the state was dissolved.Ed Stuhler. ''Die letzten Monate der DDR – Die Regierung de Maizière und ihr Weg zur deutschen Einheit''. Links (2010). . Page 228.

Notable recipients

Sylvia Geszty Sylvia Geszty (born Sylvia Maria Ilona Wytkowsky; ; 28 February 1934 – 13 December 2018) was a Hungarian-German operatic coloratura soprano who appeared internationally, based first at the Staatsoper Berlin in East Berlin and from 1970 at the S ...

(1966) *

Peter Damm Peter Damm (born 27 July 1937, Meiningen, Thüringen) is a German horn player. He began his musical education aged eleven, on the violin, and started playing the horn in 1951 and graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy in 1957. In 1959 he was appo ...

(1972) *

Konrad Wolf Konrad Wolf (20 October 1925 – 7 March 1982) was an East Germany, East German film director. He was the son of writer, doctor and diplomat Friedrich Wolf (writer), Friedrich Wolf, and the younger brother of Stasi spymaster Markus Wolf. "K ...

(1971) *

Wolf Kaiser Wolf Kaiser (26 October 1916 – 22 October 1992) was a German theatre and film actor. He grew up in Switzerland, where he studied chemistry and physiology. In 1937 he was deemed unfit for service in the Wehrmacht, and then went to Berlin where ...

(1961) *

Fred Delmare Werner Vorndran (24 April 1922 – 1 May 2009), known professionally as Fred Delmare, was a German actor. Life and work Werner Vorndran was the son of a carpenter and a seamstress and grew up in Hüttensteinach at Sonneberg in Thuringia, wh ...

(1960) *

Inge Keller Inge Keller (15 December 1923 – 6 February 2017) was a German stage and film actress whose career on stage and screen spanned seventy years. She was one of the most prominent performers in the former German Democratic Republic. Thomas Langhoff ...

(1960) *

Angelica Domröse Angelica Domröse (; born April 4, 1941, in Berlin) is a German actress, who became famous in the role of Paula in Heiner Carow's film ''The Legend of Paul and Paula''. Her Mediterranean appearance is the result of her biological father being a ...

(1969) *

Peter Sturm Josef Michel Dischel (24 August 1909 – 11 May 1984), known by his adopted stage name Peter Sturm, was an Austrian and an East German actor. Biography Early life Dischel was born into a religious Jewish family in Vienna. His father was a tailor, ...

(1961) *

Hannelore Bey Hannelore Bey (née ''Mueller''; born 6 November 1941, in Leipzig) was a prima ballerina at the Komische Oper Berlin. Life She studied from 1956 to 1961 at the Palucca School of Dance in Dresden. She then studied from 1965 to 1966 at the Waganow ...

(1970) *

Hartmut Haenchen Hartmut Haenchen (born 21 March 1943) is a German conductor, known as a specialist for the music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and for conducting operas in the leading opera houses of the world. Career Born in Dresden, Haenchen began his music ...

(1984) *

Rolf Herricht Rolf Oskar Ewald Günter Herricht (October 5, 1927 – August 23, 1981) was an East German comedian. Biography Early life Herricht graduated from school in 1943 after passing a ' War Abitur', a form of an Abitur designated to free school pu ...

(1973, 1977) *

Hans-Joachim Preil Hans-Joachim Preil (June 26, 1923 – November 2, 1999) was an East German comedian. Biography Preil begun studying acting at 1939. He later appeared on the stages of theaters in Quedlinburg, Aschersleben, Bernburg and Magdeburg. During 1951, he ...

(1977) *

Karat The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hardn ...

(in collective, 1979) *

Günter Kochan Günter Kochan (2 October 1930 – 22 February 2009) was a German composer. He studied with Boris Blacher and was a master student for composition with Hanns Eisler. From 1967 until his retirement in 1991, he worked as professor for musical comp ...

(1959) *

Peter Konwitschny Peter Konwitschny (born 21 January 1945 in Frankfurt am Main) is a German opera and theatre director. Biography Peter Konwitschny grew up in Leipzig, where his father Franz Konwitschny was principal conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestr ...

(1988) *

Dieter Mann Dieter Mann (20 June 1941 – 3 February 2022) was a German actor, director, university professor, and radio personality. In his career he acted in several theater productions and in over 140 film and television productions. Between 1984 and 199 ...

(1975) *

Ulrich Thein Ulrich Thein (7 April 1930 – 21 June 1995) was a German actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in more than 40 films and television shows between 1953 and 1995. He won the award for Best Actor at the 11th Moscow International F ...

(1969, 1984) *

Hans-Joachim Rotzsch Hans-Joachim Rotzsch (25 April 1929 – 25 September 2013) was a German choral conductor, conducting the Thomanerchor from 1972 until 1991 as the fifteenth Thomaskantor since Johann Sebastian Bach. He was also a tenor and an academic teacher. Bi ...

(1967) *

Günter Sommer Günter "Baby" Sommer (born 25 August 1943) is a German jazz drummer. Career Sommer was born in Dresden on 25 August 1943. His first instrument was the trumpet, which he studied at school. He started playing the drums aged 15 or 16. He studie ...

(1985) *

Adele Stolte Adele Stolte (12 October 1932 – 26 September 2020) was a German soprano singer in concert and Lieder, and an academic voice teacher. Biography Born in Sperenberg, Stolte attended schools in Lübeck and Potsdam. She studied voice with Anneli ...

(1966) *

Armin Mueller-Stahl Armin Mueller-Stahl (born 17 December 1930) is a retired German film actor, painter and author, who also appeared in numerous English-language films since the 1980s. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role i ...

(1963) *

Karl Gass Karl Gass (2 February 1917, Mannheim, Grand Duchy of Baden – 29 January 2009) was a German documentary filmmaker. He was a soldier in the elite Panzer-Grenadier-Division Großdeutschland of the Wehrmacht throughout the duration of WW2, w ...

(1970) *

Hannjo Hasse Hannjo Hasse (31 August 1921 – 5 February 1983) was an East German actor. Biography Hasse began studying acting in 1938, and attended Lily Ackermann's Institute for Stage Artists' Education in Berlin. At 1941, he was drafted for the Labour Ser ...

(1971) *

Siegfried Thiele Siegfried Thiele (born 28 March 1934) is a German composer. From 1990 to 1997 he was rector of the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig. Life Born in Chemnitz Thiele was born the son of a craftsman. Already at the age of twelve he created hi ...

(1983) *

Werner Dissel Werner Friedrich Dissel (26 August 1912 – 22 January 2003) was a Germans, German actor, director, and German resistance to Nazism, resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. Biography Dissel's began working as a newspaper photographer in the ...

(1986)

References

{{Reflist

External links

A photograph of the Art Prize's medal

Awards established in 1959 Awards disestablished in 1990 Orders, decorations, and medals of East Germany Visual arts awards Acting awards 1959 establishments in East Germany 1990 disestablishments in East Germany

History

Notable recipients

See also

References

External links