Current exhibition: Sculpture Garden and Belvedere

What Stella Hamberg has in common with Robert Jacobsen, after whom the Robert Jacobsen Prize was named, is an emphasis on the craftmanship involved in contemporary sculpting, as well as a focus on highly associative shapes. Last century, Robert Jacobsen himself said on the principle of sculpture that “one’s vision and one’s mind have to work simultaneously: Generally, you feel before you notice—you feel and see—but you have to fully comprehend the movement at the very same instant. For me, this is what sculpture is all about these days.

“Stella Hamberg has stood for an uncompromising approach to sculpting since the 2000s. Her intensive, almost impressionist formal language, as displayed in her larger-than-life bronze figures, such as the ‘Berserker’ (Berserks), has had a significant impact on the medium of figurative sculpture,” the jury of the 16th Robert Jacobsen Prize said in their decision. They continue by saying: “Her works are without narrative clarity on purpose, leaving the viewer with a wide range of possible interpretations. Using the material of bronze, which has a rich tradition, her works vary between raw monumentality and the documentation of the most minute traces of the creative process, adding a vibrant, almost tangible quality to her sculptures. Hamberg combines archaic origins with the physical presence of the human and animal body and uses abstract means to open up new perspectives on both the human individual and the medium as such. In doing so, she continues the tradition of sculpting while renewing it using her powerful, contemporary signature design.”

The jury of the 16th Robert Jacobsen Prize of the Würth Foundation

· Dr. Christoph Becker, former Director of Kunsthaus Zurich

· Dr. Philipp Demandt, Director of Städel Museum and Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt

· Prof. Dr. Michael Eissenhauer, former Director-General of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

· Fabrice Hergott, Director of Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris

· Prof. Dr. Bernhard Maaz, former General Director of Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich

· Ugo Rondinone, New York, winner of the 15th Robert Jacobsen Prize

· C. Sylvia Weber, Executive Vice President of the Würth Group for Culture (jury chair)

· Maria Würth, Member of the Board of the Würth Foundation

About the Robert Jacobsen Prize

After the death of sculptor Robert Jacobsen in 1993, the Würth Foundation endowed the Robert Jacobsen Prize in cooperation with Museum Würth. Every other year, it is awarded to contemporary visual artists to commemorate Robert Jacobsen’s oeuvre and influence. After their first accidental encounter in the 1970s, the Danish sculptor and Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth, entrepreneur and art collector, became long-standing friends. In 1991, Jacobsen completed his largest sculpture installation on the forecourt of the Würth Group’s new administration building, which has characterized the look of the Group’s headquarters ever since. The Robert Jacobsen Prize includes prize money of EUR 50,000.

Previous prize winners:

· 1993 Lun Tuchnowski

· 1995 Richard Deacon

· 1997 Magdalena Jetelovà

· 1999 Gereon Lepper

· 2001 Stephan Kern

· 2003 Rui Chafes

· 2005/2006 Bernar Venet

· 2008 Monika Sosnowska

· 2010 Alicja Kwade

· 2012 Jeppe Hein

· 2014/2015 Michael Sailstorfer

· 2016/2017 Yngve Holen

· 2018/2019 Eva Rothschild

· 2021 Elmgreen & Dragset

· 2023/2024 Ugo Rondinone

About the Würth Foundation

Founded by Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth and Carmen Würth in Künzelsau, Germany, in 1987, the charitable Würth Foundation promotes projects in the fields of education and sciences, integration and social affairs as well as art and culture. It is supported by companies of the Würth Group in Germany, particularly Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG.