The Berliner Kunstpreis (Berlin Art Prize), officially Großer Berliner Kunstpreis, is a prize for the arts by the City of Berlin. It was first awarded in 1948 in several fields of art. Since 1971, it has been awarded by the Academy of Arts (Akademie der Künste) on behalf of the Senate of Berlin. Annually one of its six sections, fine arts, architecture, music, literature, performing arts and film and media arts, gives the great prize, endowed with €15,000, whereas the other five sections annually award prizes endowed with €5,000.

History

The Berlin Art Prize has been awarded since 1948 in commemoration of the March Revolution of 1848. The official name then, Berliner Kunstpreis – Jubiläumsstiftung 1848/1948 (Berlin Art Prize – 1848/1948 Jubilee Foundation), was used until 1969, the ceremony was held by the Mayor in the Charlottenburg Palace.

The prize was planned to be awarded first on 18 March 1948 by the City Berlinale, to commemorate the March Revolution and the revolutionaries who fell for a new state (für einen neuen Staat gefallenen Revolutionäre). The first prize winners of 1948, shortly before the currency reform, who received awards of 10,000 Mark, were the sculptor Renée Sintenis and the composers Ernst Pepping and Wolfgang Fortner. The then-Senator of Education awarded the prize without consulting a jury.

In 1949 a constitution was drafted. The prize (per section DM 3,000.00) should be awarded annually for achievements in literature, music, painting, graphic and performing arts. As a result, changes were made regarding the divisions, the division between several winners and the award criteria. From the mid-1950s, the ceremony was always accompanied by criticism.

Since 1971, the prize is awarded by the Academy of Arts. The Academy awards the prize annually in alternating intervals of its six sections in the order of fine arts, architecture, music, literature, performing arts and film and media arts. The Arts Award for "Film and Media Arts" award since 1984 and from 1956 to 1983, there were instead the Arts Award for "Radio-Television-Film." The prize, awarded every six years by the literature section was named in 2010 the Fontane Prize.

Great Prize recipients

Selected prize recipients

Recipients are typically listed in the sequence "Bildende Kunst" (art), "Baukunst" (architecture), "Musik" (music), "Darstellende Kunst" (performing art), "Film-Hörfunk-Fernsehen" (media)

• 1948: Renée Sintenis, Ernst Pepping, Wolfgang Fortner
• 1950: Bernhard Heiliger, Karl Hartung, Hans Uhlmann, Werner Heldt, Hans Jaenisch, Wolf Hoffmann, Wilhelm Deffke, Mac Zimmermann, Carl-Heinz Kliemann (art), Werner Egk, Helmut Roloff, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (music), Heinz Tietjen, Boleslaw Barlog (performing art)
• 1951: Louise Stomps, Mac Leube, Hans-Joachim Ihle, Theodor Werner, Alexander Camaro, Marcus Behmer, Siegmund Lympasik (art), Boris Blacher, Gerhard Puchelt (music), Hermine Körner, O. E. Hasse (performing art)
• 1952: Richard Scheibe, Lidy von Lüttwitz, Gerhart Schreiter, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Woty Werner, Eva Schwimmer, Gerda Rotermund, Georg Gresko (art), Arthur Rother, Helmut Krebs, Giselher Klebe (music), Mary Wigman, Frank Lothar, Kurt Meisel (performing art)
• 1953: Alexander Gonda, Emy Roeder, Johannes Schiffner, Karl Hofer, Otto Hofmann, Ernst Böhm, Dietmar Lemke, Elsa Eisgruber (art); Gerda Lammers, Karl Forster, Max Baumann (music); Käthe Dorsch, Ita Maximowna, Wolfgang Spier (performing art)
• 1954: Paul Dierkes, Ursula Förster, Otto Placzek, Max Pechstein, Curt Lahs, Hans Thiemann, Hans Orlowski, Sigmund Hahn (art), Erna Berger, Hertha Klust, Volker Wangenheim (music); Tatjana Gsovsky, Käthe Braun, Caspar Neher (performing art)
• 1955: Gerhard Marcks, Hans Purrmann, Manfred Bluth, August Wilhelm Dressler, Max Taut, Hans Scharoun, Sergiu Celibidache, Joseph Ahrens, Josef Greindl, Walter Franck
• 1956: Heinz Trökes, Hugo Häring, Philipp Jarnach, Ernst Schröder, Helmut Käutner
• 1957: Erich Heckel, Ludwig Hilberseimer, Heinz Tiessen, Joana Maria Gorvin, Heinz Rühmann
• 1958: Fritz Winter, Wassili Luckhardt, Hans Werner Henze, Martin Held, Robert Siodmak
• 1959: Elsa Wagner
• 1960: Julius Bissier, Paul Baumgarten, Wladimir Vogel, Erich Schellow, Günter Neumann, Heinz Pauck
• 1961: Rudolf Belling, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Willi Schmidt, Robert Müller
• 1962: Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann, Egon Eiermann, Gerhart von Westerman, Gert Reinholm, Hans Rolf Strobel and Heinz Tichawsky
• 1963: Max Kaus, Sergius Ruegenberg, Paul Hindemith, Fritz Kortner, Jürgen Neven-du Mont
• 1964: Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Werner Düttmann, Hans Chemin-Petit, Rolf Henniger, Wolfgang Neuss
• 1965: Jan Bontjes van Beek, Hermann Fehling, Elisabeth Grümmer, Ernst Deutsch
• 1966: Hann Trier, Walter Rossow, Johann Nepomuk David, Rudolf Platte, Dieter Ertel
• 1967: Rudolf Hoflehner, Frei Otto, Karl Böhm, Gustav Rudolf Sellner, Hans Richter
• 1968: Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Erwin Gutkind, Heinz Friedrich Hartig, Hans Lietzau, Georg Stefan Troller
• 1969: Heinrich Richter, Ludwig Leo, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Herbert Ihering, Peter Zadek