Friedrich Kunath, Claire Morgan and Jérôme Zonder have just been named as the three finalists for the twelfth edition of the Prix du dessin, the drawing prize organized by Daniel and Florence Guerlain contemporary art foundation. An exhibition of their works will be presented at Paris’ Salon du Dessin drawing fair at the Palais de la Bourse from March 27 to April 1, 2019, and the winner will be announced there on March 28.
German artist Friedrich Kunath, born in 1974, based in Los Angeles, is represented by the galleries Blum & Poe in Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo, VNH in Paris and Tim Van Laere in Antwerp. Irish artist Claire Morgan, born in 1980, lives and works in Newcastle, England, and has shown her work at the Palais de Tokyo (2009), at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York (2010), at the Musée de la Chasse in Paris (2015), and at the Karsten Greve gallery (Paris, Cologne and St. Moritz). French artist Jérôme Zonder, born in 1974, is based in Paris. Represented by the Nathalie Obadia gallery in Paris and Brussels), his solo exhibition was held at the Maison rouge – Fondation Antoine de Galbert in Paris in 2015; he also created an installation Tinguely Museum in Basel in 2017 and an exhibition in situ at the Château de Chambord in 2018.
Over the past fifteen years, Florence and Daniel Guerlain have been supporting artists who use drawing as their primary means of expression, and have built up a collection of more than 1,200 drawings, with works by over 200 artists from around thirty different countries. In 2006, the couple created the Prix de dessin de la Fondation d’art contemporain Daniel & Florence Guerlain, a contemporary drawing prize that reflected their passion for the freshness and spontaneity of line drawing.. Each year, three artists of all ages and nationalities are nominated by an international jury of specialists, with the winner ultimately receiving € 15,000; each of the other two receives € 5,000.In addition, the winner’s work is also shown in the work graphic arts gallery at the Centre Pompidou.
Since being established, the prize has been awarded to Silvia Bächli, Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, Catharina Van Eetvelde, Marcel Van Eeden, Jorinde Voigt, Susan Hefuna, Tomasz Kowalski, Jockum Nordström, Jamie Cameron, Ciprian Muresan and Mamma Andersson. In 2017, the Center Pompidou hosted the 10th anniversary exhibition of the Prize, with works by the thirty nominated artists; on that occasion, the couple also gifted some 1,200 drawings to the museum.
In addition, the Wilhelm-Hack Museum in Ludwigshafen, Germany, is currently hosting the exhibition “Auto-Fictions. Contemporary drawings Prix de dessin Guerlain” with works by thirty-three artists, through February 24, 2019.
