In May 1983 Jasper was awarded the FVS Foundation scholarship to study in Germany for a year. Each year the Foundation awarded its Shakespeare Prize to an outstanding British person working in the arts. The winner of the prize chose a young person to receive the Shakespeare Scholarship. In 1983 the recipient of the Shakespeare Prize was David Hockney. At the recommendation of the art dealer Kasmin, Hockney selected Jasper for the student scholarship. (The prize and the scholarship no longer exist.)
On 23 June Jasper attended a formal event of music, speeches and lunch in Hamburg to celebrate that year’s awards. In the evening there was a dinner with David Hockney. In an interview later in the year, Jasper recounted to the journalist Hugh St Clair that in Hamburg he was ‘met by the British consul, taken to a civic reception and presented with a large cheque. In the evening he was taken to the opera to sit in the Burgomeisters box.’
Jasper chose to study at the Hochschule der Künst in Berlin because ‘Berlin seemed the best’. Also he had come to know Andreas Brandolini the previous year, who taught at the Hochschule. The Royal College agreed that this could be an alternative second year for his three-year master’s degree, at the end of which they would assess whether he should move into his third year. On his return, the College approved his progression into his final year.
The programme for the awards event on 23 June. The event began at 11 am.
The event’s programme of music, addresses by local dignitaries and the award presentation.
The front of the fold-out programme card for the event. (It measures 294 x 105 mm.)
The lunch card for the event (measuring 210 x 147 mm): ‘Dining on the occasion of the presentation of the Shakespeare Prize to Mr David Hockney and the Shakespeare Scholarship to Mr Jasper Morrison.’
The event’s lunch menu.
Invitation to dinner.