ART-PRESENTATION: CERAMIX Art and Ceramics from Rodin to Schütte
Sevres, Paris and Maastricht have strong historical connections to ceramic production in all its guise. Cité de la Céramique, La maison rouge in and Bonnefantenmuseum present the first International exhibition devoted to the use of ceramics in the 20th and 21st Centuries. The timing of this exhibition is no coincidence: ceramic is an incredibly popular medium in sculpture right now, largely due to its new and freer uses.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: La maison rouge Archive
The exhibition of “CERAMIX-Art and Ceramics from Rodin to Schütte”, presents a selection of 250 highlights of ceramic art from International museum and private collections in two places: La maison rouge in Paris and at Cité de la Céramique in Sèvres. It’s the first exhibition to focus on the relationship between art and ceramics from the early 20th Century to the present. The use of ceramic as a sculptural medium has really taken off in the 21st Century and made an indelible mark on the art world. How can we explain this revival? Where and when did ceramics gain influence in the work of painters and sculptors? In which styles, movements, countries and production centres did this art form originate? These questions form the basis of the exhibition. Under the title of the exhibition, the works created by 100 Modern and Contemporary artists are being displayed, the exhibits include paintings, sculptures, installations and objects created using various techniques. The layout of the exhibition is both chronological and thematic. For instance, one of the rooms gives a chronological overview of the use of ceramics in the art history of Europe, the United States and Japan. Other rooms focus on various themes, such as the origin of ceramic sculpture, with works by artists like Rodin and Gauguin, the Otis group from California, with artists like Ken Price and John Mason, and Falling vases, breaking plates, with works by Picasso, Ai Weiwei, Anne Wenzel and Edmund de Waal. Finally, there are a number of monograph rooms that have been created in close cooperation with the artists: Katinka Bock, Johan Creten, Eduardo Chillida & Antoni Tàpies, Leiko Ikemura, Klara Kristalova, Luigi Ontani, Elsa Sahal and Thomas Schütte, whose name is already mentioned in the exhibition’s title, began working with clay in the late ‘80s. It didn’t take long for this natural material to take a prominent place in his multifaceted oeuvre. Since the 1990s, his main focus has been on the human body, which he quite often portrays in monumental size. Later on, he started to devote increasing attention to male heads and female bodies.
Info: Curators: Camille Morineau & Lucia Pesapane, La maison rouge, 10 Boulevard de la bastille, Paris & La Cité de la Céramique, 2 Place de la Manufacture, Sèvres, Duration 9/3-5/6/16, Days & Hours: La maison rouge: Wed & Fri-Mon 11:00-19:00, Thu 11:00-21:00, La Cité de la Céramique: Wed-Mon 10:00-17:00, www.lamaisonrouge.org & http://sevresciteceramique.fr
