Anthony Bannwart, founder of W A V E S – art initiative for the oceans.
Anthony Bannwart is a Swiss conceptual interdisciplinary artist, designer and sailor born in the watchmaking town of La Chaux-de-Fonds at 1000m altitude (*), who grew up among watchmaking designs, legendary time-pieces designed and produced within his family watch brand Corum. Thanks mainly to his grand-father and father’s creative DNA, from 1955 until 2002 the watchmaking world was impacted by many of their iconic watches and worn by artistic personalities such as Elvis Presley, or Andy Warhol whom Anthony met as a child in 1986.
As a result of his father Jean-René Bannwart ’s increasing and sincere passion for sailing, Corum watches gained acclaim in the sailing community, marking their history with their renowned sailing team as a winner of the 1991 Admiral’s Cup in Cowes, Isle of Wight, for France, hosting sailing cups, sponsoring numerous events, among other titles and sailing adventures.
The insatiable creativity and fluidity among materials and disciplines together with thorough researched concepts and productions mark the career of Anthony Bannwart. He has a timeless approach to universal themes and keeps a closeness to poetry within his creation. The artist is known for his tributes to great interdisciplinary art and science figures, such as the architect Le Corbusier – also born in La Chaux-de-Fonds -, Buckminster Fuller the American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, philosopher, critic of work, and futurist, Friedrich Dürrenmatt Swiss playwright, novelist, and essayist, the poet German romantic poet Novalis, the Italian mathematician Fibonacci, or Boris Cyrulnik the French doctor, ethologist, neurologist, and psychiatrist who inspired Anthony Bannwart for his artworks RESILIENCE.
The artist lives, creates, produces in Switzerland mainly exhibiting internationally and pursues his sailing adventures on the Swiss Lake Leman, nowadays with the new team and new boat, or on the sea when possible. He won with his team #NOSTROMINO Les Voiles de Saint Tropez 2020. Member of the Gstaad Yacht Club, and the Société Nautique Rolloise in Switzerland, Anthony Bannwart seeked to build bridges between art, sailing, and the protection of the oceans for a long time.
« I believe that we could do a lot more progress in the domain of the fine and contemporary art with a better use of packaging and transporting artworks overseas or just within our borders; time is definetely ticking for a rapid reaction. » Anthony Bannwart
* La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss town located in the Jura mountains a few kilometers from the French border. Founded in 1656, it owes its growth and renown to watchmaking. The architect, Le Corbusier, writer Blaise Cendrars and automobile maker Louis Chevrolet were born there. It is a renowned centre of Art Nouveau and since 2009 has been classified a UNESCO World Heritage site for its typical urban landscape of the watchmaking industry. Today, it remains a very significant watchmaking center and is home to some of the most famous watchmaking manufacturers.
Photo credit Nathalie Pallud