Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic

The Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic (German: Kunstpreis der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik) was an East German state award bestowed on individuals for contributions in various fields of art.

History The Art Prize was annually awarded in recognition of "outstanding creative and interpretive achievements" in visual arts, applied arts, cinema, television, radio and entertainment. It could be conferred to individual recipients or in collective, to groups of no more than six people.Andreas Ludwig. Fortschritt, Norm und Eigensinn: Erkundungen im Alltag der DDR. Links (1999). . Page 99. The recipients were awarded a silver-coated metal medal, 20 millimeters in diameter, with the inscription Kunstpreis.Günter Tautz. Orden, Preise und Medaillen: staatliche Auszeichnungen der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. . Page 95. Besides the medal, a single grantee would also be entitled to a sum of 6,000 East German Marks, while a collective would get a sum as high as 20,000 marks. The Art Prize was the country's highest honor for artists, and was outranked only by the National Prize of East Germany.Bundesministerium für Gesamtdeutsche Fragen. Die SBZ von A bis Z: Ein Taschen- und Nachschlagewerk über die Sowjetische Besatzungszone Deutschlands. ASIN B001TL50K4. Page 30.

It was first awarded by Minister of Culture Alexander Abusch to nineteen recipients, on 22 January 1959.Deutscher Schriftsteller-Verband. Neue deutsche Literatur. Schwartzkopff (1959). . Pages 154–155. The Ministry's decree declared that it was bestowed "in recognition of outstanding and unique artistic achievements and for promotion of artistic creativity."Deutsches Institut für Zeitgeschichte. Jahrbuch der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1957–1961 (Volume 5). Verlag die Wirtschaft (1960). ASIN B003GH1JSG. Page 303. The Art Prize was conferred twice more during the year, in April and October. It was again awarded thrice during 1960, in March, October and December. From 1961, it was conferred only once every year, on varying months.Erika Tschernig, Monika Kollega, Gudrun Müller. Unsere Kultur: DDR-Zeittafel, 1945–1987. Dietz Verlag (1989). . Page 450. The last presentation ceremony took place on the night of 3 October 1990, just before the state was dissolved.Ed Stuhler. Die letzten Monate der DDR – Die Regierung de Maizière und ihr Weg zur deutschen Einheit. Links (2010). . Page 228.

Notable recipients

Sylvia Geszty (1966) Peter Damm (1972) Konrad Wolf (1971) Wolf Kaiser (1961) Fred Delmare (1960) Inge Keller (1960) Angelica Domröse (1969) Peter Sturm (1961) Hannelore Bey (1970) Hartmut Haenchen (1984) Rolf Herricht (1973, 1977) Hans-Joachim Preil (1977) Karat (in collective, 1979) Günter Kochan (1959) Peter Konwitschny (1988) Dieter Mann (1975) Ulrich Thein (1969, 1984) Hans-Joachim Rotzsch (1967) Günter Sommer (1985) Adele Stolte (1966) Armin Mueller-Stahl (1963) Karl Gass (1970) Hannjo Hasse (1971) Siegfried Thiele (1983) Werner Dissel (1986)

Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic

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