20.12.2022
Kunstgewerbemuseum
The Kunstgewerbemuseum (Decorative Arts Museum) – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin has received a gift of contemporary jewellery by Jan Wehrens. The large-format brooches and pendants complement its diverse jewellery collection and are on display at the museum from 20 December 2022.
During a visit to his Munich studio, curator Ruth Eger had the opportunity to meet Jan Wehrens personally. She was able to choose a small selection of jewellery pieces that have now been given to the Kunstgewerbemuseum’s jewellery collection.
The five brooches and pendants document Wehrens’s long creative oeuvre from the 1980s until now. They show the artist’s style, which features geometric forms and figurative elements. The pieces are made of iron and steel – materials Jan Wehrens favours.
The new jewellery pieces can now be appreciated in a specially erected display case in the Kunstgewerbemuseum. The large-format works represent an outstanding addition to the museum’s wide-ranging jewellery collection.
Works by Jans Wehrens are now in various collections, including the Dallas Museum of Art, the Pforzheim Jewellery Museum and the Munich Pinakothek der Moderne. With the new acquisition, his jewellery can now be included in Berlin. This presentation also contributes to the artist’s wish for his works to be made as widely viewable around the globe as possible.
Jan Wehrens (b. 1945) grew up in the Netherlands and initially studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht. In 1972 he first came to Munich, where he studied sculpture and goldsmithing at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste. There he experimented with different materials, forms and techniques.
After graduating in 1979, Wehrens became known for his sculptures and jewellery with a clear design vocabulary. His works have been admired at exhibitions in, for example, New York, Tokyo, Barcelona, Berlin and Munich.
