Manfred Bischoff: Ding Dong

Raised in Schömberg in the Black Forest, Manfred Bischoff fi rst studied jewellery design under Reinhold Reiling at the Fachchochschule für Gestaltung in Pforzheim, before switching in 1977 to Hermann Jünger at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich. After graduating, he moved to Berlin, where he established a multidisciplinary studio collective, the Werkfabrik, with jewellery artists Georg Dobler and Winfried Krüger, among others. Bischoff’s works from this time document his engagement with non-precious materials and embody fundamental themes and strategies that would continue to develop in the years that followed: the overriding importance of drawing, the implication of language and symbolically charged animalistic motifs. Moreover, he developed his characteristic appreciation for humour, which was frequently directed at himself.

In 1984 Bischoff moved to Tuscany, where he created energetic and surreal compositions, which in their formal execution were more radical than his earlier works, with his brooches being broken down into diverse elements.
Materials such as gold and coral – which from then on became steadfast among his materials – became redefined in their raw state. It was here in Italy that the cartoonlike pictorial language of his objects became increasingly elemental.

References to contemporary art, quotations from art history and philosophy, and inspiration from his abundant intellectual world played a conceptual part in his works. He also mounted his jewellery onto drawings, to which he added messages and titles in his characteristic writing, which at times touched on the very limits of illegibility. The publication is arranged according to the places the jewellery artist lived, each of which exerted a signifi cant infl uence on his work. Numerous objects and drawings, mostly reproduced in original size, as well as private photos grant insights into his extraordinary creative universe.

Contributions from renowned connoisseurs of his oeuvre analyse his works and situate them in the history of art and jewellery. A comprehensive appraisal of one of the most signifi cant jewellery artists of our time.

CONTENTS
5 Foreword, Cornelie Holzach.
13 Bischoffism, Matthew Drutt.
16 München, Berlin 1977–1984.
43 Man with Two Questions, Liesbeth den Besten.
46 Strada in Chianti 1984–1988.
70 The Exit Is at the Entrance, Helen W. Drutt English.
72 Pornello, San Venanzo 1988–1991.
94 Palazonne 1991–2001.
122 San Casciano dei Bagni 2001–2015.
210 Thinking Of, Karl Bollmann.
212 Home.
242 Biography.