Georg Hornemann is a very famous jeweller-artist in the circles of those who know. Those who are not deeper involved in the subject of high jewellery, have probably never heard of him.
Born in 1940, in the Eastern part of the then divided Germany, Georg Hornemann moved in his youth to the Western part. First, he came to coal and steel city Essen, then he left for Duesseldorf. Duesseldorf is more refined and a go to place for luxury goods (the street Koenigsallee is still famous today and can easily compare to the high-end streets in much bigger cities). When he arrived there, he had already learned important lessons of his craft from his father. It was Duesseldorf, though, where he started his high-flying career.
Georg Hornemann won many prizes. If you want to get a full overview of his career, the prizes, and the honours, best go to his website, click “about us” and then “history”. The website gives a conservative impression, very fitting to the man. Images of his one-of-a-kind jewels can be admired there as well. They are very delicate, not easily recognizable as coming from one hand (if one is not an expert). Each one shows an impressive artistic knowledge.
Today Georg Hornemann’s jewellery business is lead by his son Alexander, who keeps the heritage intact. I could not detect a different style yet – but that might develop more clearly over time.
Georg Hornemann participated, and still does, in many exhibitions and art-jewellery shows worldwide. Over the years, he became very international.
His oeuvre mixes jewellery, sculptures, and art to a very unusual scale. The word artist fits Georg Hornemann better than jeweller.
His first grand single exhibition was in 2012, the one shown at the title picture, and the one that made me curious about him. I was very lucky to be able to see it personally, walking through the rooms of the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, Germany, and admiring the delicate dancing gold skeletons. As far as I remember they were not bigger than 20 cm, and I think there were more than 1. In the book about the exhibition only the title one is shown – memory may fail me; it is 14 years ago.
The exhibition also showed part of his wearable jewellery and different sculptures, revolving around the human form and death. Georg Hornemann had developed his style over the years, starting with classical jewellery, then involving animals in the 1980s and 1990s, and widening the scope in the 1990s to walking sticks with very special heads. Walking sticks are in general not a typical jewellery object. But Georg Hornemann made them one.
In his book about his jewels from 2003 “Georg Hornemann, Goldschmied”, the first skull jewellery can be seen right at the end. The title picture shows an exquisite cobra snake brooch in green, gold and diamond-white, fangs of the snake exposed. It is a wonderful example of Georg Hornemann’s craft.
It was especially interesting as the exhibition about the dancing gold skeletons was in Duisburg, a city normally not known for fine art and luxury in the media, but for soccer, down-to-earth people, and structural transformation. The impression is not wrong, but does not give credit to the beautiful and rich parts of the city. There are towns where contrasts stick out very clearly. Duisburg is one of them.
The Georg Hornemann exhibition was another example for contrasts being highlighted. The beauty of the sculptures and the motive they showed as centre piece gave people a lot to think about. For those who are fine with the circle of life and that sooner or later all beloved people and oneself have to die, it was a pure wonder of beauty. But many, better: most people carry deep felt fears about death with them. A dancing gold skeleton causes concern deep down.
Both books give some interesting quotes about beauty. Here are some of them changed into my words: a lot of people fear beauty might exclude them, as they are not up to the level of others. Another: in a materialistic world not the soul of people becomes immortal, but the best things that adorned their lives. The commentaries in the book are not written by famous customers of Georg Hornemann’s jewels, but by professors and artists.
This shows that jewellery is seen in Georg Hornemann’s world as philosophy set in wonderful stones, as I would describe it. His jewels have a life and a story of their own.
The journey of discovery led Georg Hornemann on and on. It probably still does and it is interesting to check from time to time what new things he came up with. The exhibition of 2012 was very special because pure beauty was mixed – not with the celebration of life – but with the memory where we all come from and go to. Ashes to ashes.
Far too seldom is death shown as what it is, the beautiful closing of the circle of life. To me the peak of Georg Hornemann’s art were the delicate skeletons dancing, but let us see if he ventures out even further.
All rights to the books belong to:
Hornemann, Georg: Goldschmied, 2003, published by DuMont monte Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Köln, printed in Germany, prologue by Prof. Markus Luepertz, ISBN: 3-8320-8843-1, (the book was presented to the public in the museum K21 in Duesseldorf, Germany)
Stecker, Raimund (editor): Georg Hornemann, Objets d’Art, 2012, the book was published on the occasion of the Georg Hornemann exhibition at the Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, published by Distanz Verlag, printed in Germany, ISBN: 978-3-942405-60-7