2019 Drawing Prize nominated artists: Friedrich Kunath, Claire Morgan, Jérôme Zonder

The Daniel & Florence Guerlain Foundation has announced the names of the three nominated artists for the 2019 Drawing Prize.

Friedrich Kunath, German artist, born in 1974 in Chemnitz, lives and works in Los Angeles. Studied at Braunschweig University of Art. Represented by the galleries: Blum & Poe (Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo), VHN (Paris) and Tim Van Laere (Antwerp).

Through his works, not only drawings but also paintings and sculptures, Friedrich Kunath raises questions about distance and perception. Born in East Germany, he reinterprets the tradition of romanticism, landscape and human passions. As a child, he was a fan of American films, music and skateboard culture. Nowadays, in Los Angeles, he seeks to preserve a balance between his own images and some of his fully assumed appropriations. His work belongs to the collections of Carnegie Museum of Art, Centre Pompidou, Deste Foundation, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Frans Hols Museum, MoMA, Collection Pinault, Walker Art Center, Collection Florence et Daniel Guerlain…

Claire Morgan, Irish artist, born in 1980 in Belfast, lives and works in Newcastle. Studied at Northumbria University.Represented by the galerie Karsten Grève (Paris, Köln, St Moritz).

In an œuvre comprising works on paper, paintings and installations, Claire Morgan combines geometry and lyricism, two notions which correspond to her determination to reconcile a certain radicalness and the vitality she observes in nature. Some have compared her work to mythology, yet here it is more a question of observing the energy of animals and of succeeding in “capturing a fleeting moment.” With this ever-growing bestiary, Claire Morgan reflects on current ecological and political issues. Her work belongs to the collections of the Museum of Old and New Art, the Centre Pompidou, the Fondation Frances, the Fondation Emerige, Cardiff University, and the Florence & Daniel Guerlain donation at the Musée national d’art moderne—Centre Pompidou.

Jérôme Zonder, French artist, born in 1974 in Paris, lives and works in Paris. Studied at the Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts of Paris. Represented by the galerie Nathalie Obadia (Paris/Brussels).

Since the early 2000s Jérôme Zonder has proclaimed his passion for drawing. Making no comprises, his dexterity pulls the spectator into the heart of his narrative. He explores a dark world of organic materials and children acting out some of the worst periods in history. While World War II plays a dominant role in his work, he reminds us that he belongs to a generation unable to ignore the conflicts of the 90s. His work belongs to the collections of the Fonds municipal de la Ville de Paris, the Fondation Emerige, Frac Picardie, the Istanbul Modern Museum and the Florence and Daniel Guerlain collection.

An exhibition of the three artists will be shown in Paris at the Salon du Dessin from March 22 to April 1, 2019 at the Palais de la Bourse. The jury will meet on the 28th of March 2019 and the winner will be announced on the same day.

Members of the 2019 jury are: Shalva Breus (Russia), Hélène Gheysens (France), Giovanni Giuliani (Italy), Heidi Schwab (Switzerland), Maris VitolsI (Latvia), Anne-Marie Patricot (France), Benjamin Paulin (France), Florence and Daniel Guerlain (France).

About the Prize
This prize is reserved for French and foreign artists, whether they live in France or not, but who sustain a privileged cultural link with France, and for whom drawing constitutes a significant part of their work.

The Prize’s endowment is 25,000 EUR: 15,000 EUR for the winner and 5,000 EUR for each of the two other artists. A work by the winner is offered to a French institution by the Foundation.

Awarded for the first time in 2007 and biennial until 2009, the Prize honours artists who make any unique work on paper, using graphic means: crayon, charcoal, red chalk, ink, wash tint, gouache, watercolour, pastels and felt… including collages and wall drawings but excluding computer and mechanical processes.

The candidates are selected by a committee composed of the two founders, Daniel and Florence Guerlain, and of four members chosen for their competence in contemporary art. Following a working meeting with the artists, visits to studios and analysis, the committee selects three artists whose work is presented to a jury that changes with each prize and chooses the winner.

Created in 1996, the Daniel & Florence Guerlain Contemporary Art Foundation organized exhibitions in the family property for ten years, before Daniel and Florence Guerlain decided to devote the Foundation’s activities to the Contemporary Drawing Prize. 

The prize receives the support of Neuflize OBC, Artcurial, Axa Art, Guerlain, Voisin Consulting Life Sciences, the Foundation’s Cercle des Amis, the Salon du Dessin, Beaux-Arts de Paris, Champagne Bruno Paillard, Château Seguin, Vodka Beluga.

Past winners
2018: Mamma Andersson (Sweden) / 2017: Ciprian Muresan (Romania) / 2016: Cameron Jamie (United States) / 2015: Jockum Nordström (Sweden) / 2014: Tomasz Kowalski (Poland) / 2013: Susan Hefuna (Egypt) / 2012: Jorinde Voigt (Germany) / 2011: Marcel Van Eeden (Netherlands) / 2010: Catharina Van Eetvelde (Belgium) / 2009: Sandra Vasquez de la Horra (Chile) / 2007: Silvia Bächli (Switzerland).

Contact: Daniel & Florence Guerlain Contemporary Art Foundation, T +33 (0)6 44 13 99 14, E: FDG2 [​at​] wanadoo.fr