Bernhard Schobinger (born 18 January 1946) is a Swiss contemporary artist jeweler.

Early life and education

Born in Zurich, Bernhard Schobinger attended the Zurich's School of Applied Arts for two years, followed an apprenticeship, between 1963 and 1967, at Goldsmiths, a retailer in England.

Career

In 1968, he opened a workshop–gallery in Richterswil and started to produce his own work. In the 1980s, he spent periods of time in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Throughout his career as an art jeweler, Schobinger has blurred the lines between applied and fine arts. His esthetic echoes

concrete art Concrete art was an art movement with a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. The term was first formulated by Theo van Doesburg and was then used by him in 1930 to define the difference between his vision of art and that of other abstract ar ...

mainly under the influence of

Max Bill Max Bill (22 December 1908 – 9 December 1994) was a Swiss architect, artist, painter, typeface designer, industrial designer and graphic designer. Early life and education Bill was born in Winterthur. After an apprenticeship as a silversmit ...

, the

punk culture The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of music, ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual ...

of the 1970s, Italian

Arte Povera Arte Povera (; literally "poor art") was an art movement that took place between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s in major cities throughout Italy and above all in Turin. Other cities where the movement was also important are ...

and

Neo-Dada Neo-Dada was an art movement with audio, visual and literary manifestations that had similarities in method or intent with earlier Dada artwork. It sought to close the gap between art and daily life, and was a combination of playfulness, iconoclas ...

. Often playing with contrasts, Schobinger's single pieces are made of material which varies greatly from recycled objects and pieces inherited from his mother to precious metals and gemstones. Broken glasses, scissors or rusty material are used in a provocative way, making jewelry a means for a narrative on material culture.

As the art historian
Roger Fayet Roger is a masculine given name, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages">Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") ...
put it, "His works are based not on 'neither-nor' but rather on 'both... and', on juxtaposition and interpolation. What comes out of this is – despite all this use of rubbish – jewellery of extraordinary richness: rich in materials and forms, rich in qualities that are sensorily perceived and, most importantly, rich in meanings and wit".Roger Fayet, Florian Hufnagl (eds.), ''Bernhard Schobinger, Jewels Now!'', Arnoldsche, Stuttgart 2003, p. 8.

Schobinger has been invited as a visiting lecturer at universities and academies, including the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

; Hiko Mizuno College of Jewelry in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

; the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

in Providence,

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

; the

Gerrit Rietveld Academie The Gerrit Rietveld Academie, also known as Rietveld School of Art & Design and Rietveld Academy, is an art academy in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was founded in 1924 and offers programs in fine arts and design. History The Instituut voor Kuns ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

; and the Haute Ecole d'Arts Appliqués in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Awards

His work has received awards including: * 1971 Diamonds-International Award, New York * 1972 Deutscher Schmuck-und Edelsteinpreis * 1994 Werkbeitrag des Kantons und der Stadt Luzern * 1998 The Françoise van den Bosch Award * 2007 Swiss Design Award

Museum collections

Aargauer Kunsthaus The Aargauer Kunsthaus () is a Swiss art museum founded in 1959, and located in Aarau. The museum collection includes Swiss art from the 18th century to the present day; and ''Naturama'', a natural history collection. History The art museum st ...

, Aarau, Switzerland *

Corning Museum of Glass The Corning Museum of Glass is a museum in Corning (city), New York, Corning, New York, United States, dedicated to the art, history, and science of glass. It was founded in 1951 by Corning Incorporated, Corning Glass Works and currently has a ...

, Corning, New York, United States *

Gemeentemuseum Den Haag The Kunstmuseum Den Haag is an art museum in The Hague in the Netherlands, founded in 1866 as the Museum voor Moderne Kunst. Later, until 1998, it was known as Haags Gemeentemuseum, and until the end of September 2019 as Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. I ...

, Den Haag, The Netherlands * Grassimuseum, Leipzig, Germany * Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Paris, France *

Museum of Design, Zürich The Museum of Design, Zürich (German language, German: ''Museum für Gestaltung Zürich'') is a museum for industrial design, visual communication, architecture, and craft in Zurich, Switzerland. Overview The museum is part of the Department ...

, Zürich, Switzerland *

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

, Boston, Massachusetts, United States *

Die Neue Sammlung Die Neue Sammlung is one of the leading design museums in the world, with the largest collection of industrial and product design. Founded in 1907 with the ideas of the German Werkbund, Die Neue Sammlung became an official state museum in 1925 ...

, The International Design Museum, Munich, Germany *

Rhode Island School of Design Museum The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD Museum) is an art museum integrated with the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island, US. The museum was co-founded with the school in 1877. It is the 20th-largest art m ...

, Providence, Rhode Island, United States *

, London, United Kingdom *

Swiss National Museum The Swiss National Museum () is a museum in Zurich, Switzerland's largest city, adjacent to Central Station and the '' Platzspitz'' park. It is part of the ''Musée Suisse Group'', which is itself affiliated with the Federal Office of Culture ...

, Zürich, Switzerland *

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

, Amsterdam, the Netherlands *

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

, Houston, Texas, United States * Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart, Germany *

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, London, United Kingdom * Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln, Cologne, Germany *

, Zürich, Switzerland * National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway *

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

, Canberra, Australia

External links

* , Schobinger's official website
Necklace 'Hiroshima mon amour' by Bernhard Schobinger at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

'Crowned Heads and Vajra' - Bracelet and Box by Bernhard Schobinger at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA

Bibliographical references

# Wilhelm Lindeman, ed. Gemstone/Art. Renaissance to the Present Day. Arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2016. () # Glenn Adamson, "Bernhard Schobinger: The Rings of Saturn", Arnoldische Art Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany 2013. () # Roger Fayet and others, "Bernhard Schobinger: Jewels Now", Stuttgart: Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany 2003. () # "Ornament as art" The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA, Arnoldische Art Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany 2007. () # Helen W. Drutt and Peter Dormer, "Jewelry of our time: Art, Ornament and Obsession", Thames&Hudson, London 1995. () # David Watkins, "The Best in Contemporary Jewelry", Quarto Publishing plc, London 1993. ()

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schobinger, Bernhard 1946 births Living people 20th-century jewellers 20th-century Swiss educators 20th-century Swiss male artists 21st-century jewellers 21st-century Swiss educators 21st-century Swiss male artists Academic staff of Gerrit Rietveld Academie Academics of the Royal College of Art Artists from Zurich People from Richterswil Recipients of the Rakow Commission Rhode Island School of Design faculty Swiss contemporary artists Swiss expatriates in Germany Swiss expatriates in Japan Swiss expatriates in England Swiss expatriates in the United States Swiss jewelry designers