Enfilade

Now on view at Sperone Westwater:

A Picture Gallery in the Italian Tradition of the Quadreria, 1750-1850
Sperone Westwater, New York, 10 January — 23 February 2013

Francesco Celebrano, Luncheon in the Countryside, 102 x 69 in (260 x 175 cm), ca 1770-80 (New York: Sperone Westwater)

In collaboration with Galleria Carlo Virgilio, Rome, Sperone Westwater is pleased to present A Picture Gallery in the Italian Tradition of the Quadreria, 1750-1850. The exhibition showcases 29 paintings and drawings, all in the Italian figurative tradition, by various European masters created between the mid-18th and mid-19th century.

The exhibition aims to evoke the manner in which collections – known as quadrerie – were formed in Italy in the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as the way in which they were displayed, covering entire walls of the palazzo that housed them. This criterion predates the modern picture gallery, which follows a more scientific idea of classification derived from Illuminism. In addition to satisfying decorative motivations, the arrangement of works within a Quadreria followed the collector’s personal taste, with pictures hung according to related subjects or artistic genres.

Most of the works on view have never been exhibited or published, although many of them are widely documented in literary sources of the time. Firmly grounded in research, the exhibition presents significant works – masterpieces in some cases – by artists who are not widely known beyond specialist academic circles, but who nonetheless have played a key role in art history, with a view to illustrating the progress that research in Italy has made over the past thirty years.

The catalogue accompanying the exhibition groups the works according to artistic or iconographic genre, first with a series of portraits that offer insight into society of the time, followed by history and figure painting – considered the noblest artistic genre in the neoclassical academy tradition – and lastly, landscapes, to illustrate the phenomenon of the Grand Tour with Classical ruins and popular views.

Among the works in the exhibition is a painting by Francesco Celebrano shows members of the aristocracy having a luncheon on a country estate. This painting exemplifies the ancien régime and was likely intended as a model for a tapestry destined for the Neapolitan court. A portrait by Matilde Malechini portrays a French baroness in Rome during the Napoleonic occupation, while Giuseppe Tominz offers an austere, full-length portrait of a member of the new bourgeoisie in Trieste, the founder of the Assicurazioni Generali. The academy nude studies of Francesco Monti and Placido Fabris are followed by two demanding depictions of episodes from Classical history by Gaspare Landi and Pelagio Palagi – influential figures in the artistic circles of Rome and Milan.

The visionary reconstructions of Antiquity in the colored drawings by Giovan Battista Dell’Era counterbalance the series of sentimental mythological evocations by Friedrich Rehberg, Natale Carta and Henry Tresham, who presented his large painting, Sleeping Nymph and Cupid, to the Royal Academy of London in 1797. This section culminates in the romantic Renaissance literary subject by Francesco Podesti. A significant counter-revolutionary allegory by August Nicodemo shows the Dauphin at the tomb of his father, Louis XVI, while another large-format allegory by Francesco Caucig depicts the sentiment/malaise of melancholy with its remedies from Classical medicine.

After the sublime Biblical subject by François Gérard, the monochrome by Bernardino Nocchi of a sculpture by Canova, there follows a series of views of famous buildings of the time such as Hubert Robert’s interior of Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola, and of Classical ruins like the Temple of Diana at Baia in the capriccio by Carlo Bonavia. Two aristocratic travelers admire ruins in the paintings by Andrea Appiani, while an aqueduct is featured in the Roman campagna by Beniamino de Francesco. Volcanoes are the subject of two large-scale paintings by Pierre-Jacques Volaire and Carlo de Paris – the 1771 eruption of the Vesuvius in the Volaire, a virtuoso study of the effects of light caused by the glow of the lava, with lightning and the glare of the moon illuminating the panorama towards Naples and Ischia in the distance. The second volcano is the Pico de Orizaba in Mexico, in a work by a Roman school artist who attempted to document the native customs of Mexico and the grandiose and unspoiled landscapes of that country prior to the imminent transformations that would be brought by civilization. In contrast to this work, there is Antonio Basoli, who produced numerous imaginary views without almost ever leaving his native Bologna.

Curated by Stefano Grandesso, Gian Enzo Sperone and Carlo Virgilio, the exhibition has been produced in collaboration with Galleria Carlo Virgilio in Rome, a gallery that specializes in international art in Italy over the 18th and 19th centuries.

A fully illustrated catalogue will be published on occasion of this exhibition. The book includes an introduction by Joseph J. Rishel, the Gisela and Dennis Alter Senior Curator of European Painting before 1900 and Senior Curator of the John G Johnson Collection and the Rodin Museum, and scholarly entries by Emilie Beck Saiello, J. Patrice Marandel, Fernando Mazzocca, Ksenija Rozman and Nicola Spinosa.

With time on our minds, it seems like an appropriate posting to begin the new year. It’s easy enough still to connect ‘precision’ to our twenty-first conceptions of time (even if my own clocks are anything but precise). Yet, I imagine ‘splendor’ is a more difficult association for us to make. And yet what a lovely thought! A very happy 2013 to all of you! -CH

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Press release (7 December 2012, as PDF) from The Frick:

Precision and Splendor: Clocks and Watches at The Frick Collection
The Frick Collection, New York, 23 January 2013 — 2 February 2014

Garniture of One Clock and Two Vases, ca. 1770, clock movement by Jean Martin, Chinese hard-paste porcelain garniture, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period, with French gilt-bronze mounts, clock 21 x 8 inches, vases 14 x 9 inches, Horace Wood Brock Collection

Today the question “What time is it?” is quickly answered by looking at any number of devices around us, from watches to phones to computers. For millennia, however, determining the correct time was not so simple. In fact, it was not until the late thirteenth century that the first mechanical clocks were made, slowly replacing sundials and water clocks. It would take several hundred years before mechanical timekeepers became reliable and accurate. This exhibition explores the discoveries and innovations made in the field of horology from the early sixteenth to the nineteenth century. The exhibition, to be shown in the new Portico Gallery, features eleven clocks and fourteen watches from the Winthrop Kellogg Edey bequest, along with five clocks lent by the collector Horace Wood Brock that have never before been seen in New York City. Together, these objects chronicle the evolution over the centuries of more accurate and complex timekeepers and illustrate the aesthetic developments that reflected Europe’s latest styles. Precision and Splendor: Clocks and Watches at The Frick Collection was organized by Charlotte Vignon, Associate Curator of Decorative Arts, The Frick Collection. Support for the exhibition is generously provided by The Selz Foundation, Peter and Gail Goltra, and the David Berg Foundation.

Timekeeping during the Renaissance

Isaac Thuret or Jacques Thuret, case attributed to André-Charles Boulle, Marquetry-Veneered Barometer Clock, ca. 1690–1700, case veneered with marquetry of ebony, tortoiseshell, and brass, mounted with gilt bronzes, H.: 45 1/4 inches (New York: The Frick Collection, Bequest of Winthrop Kellogg Edey) Photo: Michael Bodycomb

It is not known when, where, or by whom the first mechanical clock was invented, but by the mid-fifteenth century several European towns had a monumental timekeeper, powered by falling weights, incorporated into the architecture of a church or public hall. Smaller versions of weight-driven clocks could also be found in the homes of a few wealthy individuals. The existence of mechanical clocks was made possible by an invention known as an escapement. Falling weights (and later springs) provided the energy to power the clock’s mechanism, while the escapement regulated the rate at which that energy was delivered to the oscillator (at first a simple balance and later a pendulum). The introduction of the escapement gradually caused the shift away from time-finding devices (sundials) and time-measuring devices (water clocks) to timekeepers (clocks and later watches) as advances in science and technology were made.

In the fifteenth century progress in metallurgy made possible the production of springs, which ultimately led to the development of portable clocks powered by a coiled spring rather than a weight. The origins of the spring-driven clock are almost as obscure as the invention of the weight-driven clock. Evidence suggests that the idea came from Italy. In the early 1400s Filippo Brunelleschi and others made drawings of spring-driven devices that made the invention of the portable timekeeper possible. One of these devices was the fusee, a cone-shaped spindle that equalizes the diminishing force of a coiled spring as it unwinds. Ornate and prohibitively expensive, clocks at this time were regarded as objects of curiosity; their principal function was to display the wealth and erudition of their owners and to entertain guests at banquets.

The earliest example in the exhibition that incorporates an escapement, a coiled spring, and a fusee is a gilt-brass table clock made in Aix-en-Provence about 1530 by Pierre de Fobis. One of the most famous French clockmakers of his time, Fobis is still recognized today for his durable and highly refined movements. The Frick’s clock is among Fobis’s rare surviving works and is one of the earliest extant spring-driven timekeepers. Its complex movement is set into a typical sixteenth-century French clock case, inspired by classical architecture and ornament rediscovered during the Renaissance. Except for the small dial in blue enamel, the hexagonal gilt-brass case is covered entirely with acanthus scrolls, urns, winged heads, and tiny figures whose limbs morph into elegant, intertwining foliage. The initials “IM” found on each face may refer to the original owner, perhaps Jean Martin, who was instrumental in bringing Renaissance architecture to France.

Germany was a leading producer of clocks during the Renaissance, and, by the late sixteenth century, Augsburg was an important center of their manufacture. The gilt-brass and silver table clock made by David Weber around 1653, most likely for his admission to the Augsburg clockmakers’ guild, exemplifies his expertise. Although Weber chose a popular form for the clock’s case, he demonstrated his imagination and hand skills in its finely worked surfaces. The tower, composed of two tiers, rises to the formidable height of nearly two feet. Balancing precariously atop a winged sphere, a female figure represents the Roman goddess Fortuna and serves as a reminder of the capriciousness of life.Because of this association, Fortuna was often used to adorn timekeepers, even as their orderly mechanisms worked to undermine her. Floral motifs decorating the clock elaborate on its symbolic message: carnations, like Fortuna, allude to capriciousness; tulips symbolize luck and plentitude; and narcissi remind us of fleeting youth and rebirth. The base depicts the four elements—air, water, fire, and earth—symbolizing cosmic order and harmony. The complex mechanism includes seven dials that provide astronomical, calendrical, and horary information. The prominent central dial is an astrolabe with twenty-one star pointers and two concentric hands, which relate to the sun and moon. The smaller dial beneath it is an alarm.

Development of the Watch

Watches were introduced in the middle of the sixteenth century following the refinement of spring-driven clocks. Like the early clocks, the first watches were inaccurate, valued primarily as luxury items and fashion accessories by men and women of distinction. Just as clocks were unreliable until the pendulum clock was invented in 1653, watches became more accurate only after 1675 when the balance spring was introduced. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the most sought-after watches were decorated with enamels to resemble miniature paintings on paper, parchment, or ivory. A stunning example is an early balance-spring watch made in Switzerland about 1685. The movement by Henry Arlaud is set into a lavish enamel case by Pierre Huaud II. Both men were the sons of French Protestants who had fled France and established themselves in Geneva in the early seventeenth century. The Huaud family popularized the practice of decorating watchcases with miniature paintings created with opaque colored enamels over a ground of pure white enamel. A painting or a print usually inspired the scenes. In this case, Huaud based his composition after The Toilet of Venus, a large canvas of around 1640 by the French artist Simon Vouet. It is unlikely that Huaud ever saw the painting (now at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh), copying instead the engraving of 1651 made by Vouet’s son-in-law, Michel Dorigny. Indeed, the scene on the watch is oriented like the engraving, which is a reverse image of the original painting. Huaud chose to execute the composition using the rich and vivid colors that were his family’s trademark.

Eighteenth-Century Splendor: Remarkable Loans

Clock with Study and Philosophy, movement by Renacle-Nicolas Sotiau, figures after Simon-Louis Boizot, ca. 1785−90, patinated and gilt bronze, marble, enameled metal, and glass, H.: 22 inches, Horace Wood Brock Collection

The precision and splendor of the art of clockmaking in France during the eighteenth century is extremely well represented by several clocks from the collection of Horace Wood Brock. Although by this point their mechanisms had become both reliable and accurate, clocks continued to be valued as objects of distinction used to display their owners’ wealth and refinement. A perfect example is the lavish clock with its two matching vases. Made of a rare type of Chinese porcelain known as celadon bleu fleuri, the already costly vases were embellished with a movement by Jean Martin and gilt-bronze mounts shortly after their importation to France, in an attempt to satisfy French collectors’ perpetual quest for increasingly more elaborate and novel luxury items. The mounts reflect the latest style, the goût grec (Greek taste), which developed in the 1760s and 1770s as a reaction to the rococo style favored by Louis XV and his court. Here the beautifully chased mounts include crowns of laurel, acanthus leaves, pilasters, lion’s masks, and other motifs inspired by classical Greek and Roman architecture. A gilded snake indicates the time.

Cases for clocks reached new heights of elaborateness in France during the late eighteenth century, often incorporating sculptures in bronze made by or after renowned artists. One such example is the stunning mantel clock of about 1785 to 1790 representing Study and Philosophy after a sculpture by Simon-Louis Boizot. A classical symmetry is achieved by placing within an imaginary equilateral triangle the figure of Study on the left, Philosophy on the right, and a column topped by a globe in the center. This composition is completed by the harmonious contrast between the dark patinated figures, the clock’s white marble column and dial, and its gilt-bronze ornamentation.

Breguet: Innovative Horologists

The Dance of Time, Three Nymphs Supporting a Clock, movement by Jean-Baptiste Lepaute, sculpture by Claude Michel Clodion, 1788, terracotta, gilt brass, and glass, H.: 40 3/4 inches (New York: The Frick Collection, bequest of Winthrop Kellogg Edey) Photo: Michael Bodycomb

The exhibition concludes with important watches and clocks by the innovative horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet and his son, Antoine-Louis Breguet, who, at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century, created highly accurate movements set in sober and elegant cases. Writing in 1982 Winthrop Edey—who bequeathed his collection of clocks to the Frick in 1999—described the elder Breguet as “a phenomenon without parallel. He was the genius of his age, perhaps the most outstanding horologist of all time.” Indeed, Breguet’s combination of technical skill, refined design, and exquisite craftsmanship gave him an unrivaled reputation. His patrons included Louis XVI, Napoleon, and most of the civil and political leaders of his day.

A modern looking watch by the Breguets is one of the very few watches or clocks to include both traditional and decimal dials. The decimal system, introduced during the French Revolution, affected not only weights and measures, but also time. (Decimal time divided the day into ten hours and the year into ten months.) This new division of time, however, proved impossible to enforce: the Republican calendar, introduced on the autumnal equinox in 1792, remained in use for only thirteen years; the decimalization of the day, issued by a 1793 decree, was abandoned in less than eighteen months. The Breguet watch was probably made shortly before or after Abraham-Louis returned to Paris from Switzerland in April 1795. The traditional twelve-hour dial was made after 1807, when his son joined the business. The provenance of the watch is notable as well: it belonged to the influential politician and art collector Antoine-César Praslin, duc de Choiseul.

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Course with Joseph Godla and Charlotte Vignon — The Art and Science of Horology
The Frick Collection, New York, 7 February 2013, 5:30pm

Curious about clocks and watches? It’s about time you joined us for this after-hours session for undergraduates and recent graduates. Participants will learn about stylistic and technical advances in European timepieces made between 1500 and 1830 and study examples from the Frick’s special exhibition up close.

The Frick is pleased to offer courses for college students and recent graduates under the age of 35. Space is limited to twenty participants, and advance registration is required; please visit our Web site or e-mail students@frick.org. A $25 annual fee is payable upon acceptance and includes student membership to The Frick.

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Seminar with Joseph Godla and Charlotte Vignon — What Time Is It?
The Frick Collection, New York, 14 March 2013, 6:00pm

For centuries, “What time is it?” was a difficult, almost impossible, question to answer. This seminar examines several clocks and watches from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth century that attempted—sometimes successfully, sometimes not—to measure time.

Seminars provide unparalleled access to works of art and encourage thought-provoking discussion with experts in their fields. Sessions, held when the galleries are closed to the public, are limited to twenty participants. Advance registration is required; register online or by calling 212.547.0704. $100 ($90 for Members).

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William J. H. Andrewes (museum consultant and sundial maker) — The Tapestry of Time
The Frick Collection, New York, 17 April 2013, 6:00pm

Time is woven throughout the fabric of our civilization. Although its impact on our society today is greater than ever before, most people know very little about its history or the origins of the intervals that control our lives. Through images of major works of the art and science of horology, this talk will describe the evolution of time measurement from around 1600 to the present.

This lecture is free. No reservations are necessary, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. This program will be webcast live and thereafter can be viewed on our Web site or The Frick Collection’s channel on FORA.tv.

Press release from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden:

Between Orient and Occident: Treasures of the Kremlin from Ivan the Terrible to Peter the Great
Royal Palace, Dresden, 1 December 2012 — 4 March 2013

Curated by Ulrike Weinhold

Lidded dish Kremlin workshops, 1694
© Moscow Kremlin Museums

The Residenzschloss (Royal Palace) in Dresden is home to two world-class museums, the Grünes Gewölbe (Green Vault) and the Kupferstich-Kabinett (Collection of Prints, Drawings and Photographs), while the Rüstkammer (Armoury), one of the most important collections of its kind, also has a significant presence here, with its Türckische Cammer (Turkish Chamber). Before the Rüstkammer opens the outstanding new presentation of another part of its collection here in the Riesensaal (Giants Hall) on 18 February 2013, the Residenzschloss hosts a museum organisation of international stature, the Moscow Kremlin Museums. From 1 December 2012 to 4 March 2013, the exhibition Between Orient and Occident: Treasures of the Kremlin from Ivan the Terrible to Peter the Great is being shown in the State Apartments, in surroundings where reconstruction work is as yet unfinished. There could hardly be a more appropriate place to hold an exhibition with this theme: like the Kremlin, the Residenzschloss, the very heart of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, is a place of encounter between Orient and Occident. In this unique special exhibition, the first ever to highlight the significance of the Kremlin as a crossroads of eastern and western cultures, around 140 outstanding exhibits are displayed in an area of some 700 sq. m. in all. Masterpieces by European goldsmiths, superb ceremonial weapons crafted by Persian and Turkish armourers, precious objects, splendid vessels and opulent garments are displayed alongside exquisite pieces produced in the Kremlin workshops, but clearly showing influences from beyond Russia.

The exhibition focuses on a clearly defined period, from 1547, when Ivan the Terrible (1530–1584) was crowned as tsar, to 1712, when Peter the Great (1672–1725) designated St Petersburg as the new capital of the Russian Empire. Magnificent objects acquired by the tsars, and sumptuous gifts presented by foreign emissaries from both west and east impressively demonstrate to today’s visitors the great power and wealth of Russia, and the significant role it played in the political and economic structures of that time. Inspired by works of art from abroad, the Kremlin workshops created treasures which are a synthesis of European and oriental taste and ancient Russian traditions.

The current exhibition is to some extent a reciprocal visit: in 2006, before the Grünes Gewölbe moved back to its original home on the ground floor of the Residenzschloss, it presented an exhibition in Moscow, entitled The Jewel Cabinet of August the Strong, hosted by the Kremlin Museums. The SKD already have close scholarly and scientific working relationships of long standing with these Russian museums, as well as with the State Hermitage in St Petersburg and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. This special exhibition, Between Orient and Occident: Treasures of the Kremlin from Ivan the Terrible to Peter the Great, is a major contribution to the continuing exchange between the respective museums. Finally, but not least, it is also a contribution to the Year of Russia in Germany and Germany in Russia 2012/13.

Press release from the Royal Academy:

Constable, Gainsborough, Turner and the Making of Landscape
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 8 December 2012 — 17 February 2013

J.M.W. Turner, Dolbadern Castle, 1800, 1194 x 902 mm. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Limited. © Royal Academy of Arts, London

This December an exhibition of works by the three towering figures of English landscape painting, John Constable RA, Thomas Gainsborough RA and J.M.W. Turner RA and their contemporaries, will open in the John Madejski Fine Rooms and the Weston Rooms. Constable, Gainsborough, Turner and the Making of Landscape will explore the development of the British School of Landscape Painting through the display of 120 works of art, comprising paintings, prints, books and archival material.

Since the foundation of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768, its Members included artists who were committed to landscape painting. The exhibition draws on the Royal Academy’s Collection to underpin the shift in landscape painting during the 18th and 19th centuries. From Founder Member Thomas Gainsborough and his contemporaries Richard Wilson and Paul Sandby, to J.M.W. Turner and John Constable, these landscape painters addressed the changing meaning of ‘truth to nature’ and the discourses surrounding the Beautiful, the Sublime and the Picturesque.

The changing style is represented by the generalised view of Gainsborough’s works and the emotionally charged and sublime landscapes by J.M.W. Turner to Constable’s romantic scenes infused with sentiment. Highlights include Gainsborough’s Romantic Landscape (c.1783), and a recently acquired drawing that was last seen in public in 1950. Constable’s two great landscapes of the 1820s, The Leaping Horse (1825) and Boat Passing a Lock (1826) will be hung alongside Turner’s brooding diploma work, Dolbadern Castle (1800).

To contextualise the landscape paintings of Constable, Gainsborough and Turner, a number of paintings by their 18th-century contemporaries Richard Wilson, Michael Angelo Rooker and Paul Sandby will be exhibited with prints made after the 17th-century masters whose work served as models: Claude, Poussin, Gaspard Dughet and Salvator Rosa. Letters by Gainsborough, Turner’s watercolour box and Constable’s palette will also be on display, bringing their artistic practice to life.

Constable, Gainsborough, Turner and the Making of Landscape has been organised by the Royal Academy of Arts. The exhibition is curated by MaryAnne Stevens, Director of Academic Affairs, Nick Savage, Head of Collections & Library, Helen Valentine, Curator of Paintings & Sculpture and Andrew Wilton, with Annette Wickham and Helena Bonett.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated booklet that will include an essay by Andrew Wilton and introductions to each of the sections of the exhibition.

Now on at the Musées Gadagne de Lyon, as noted by Hélène Bremer:

Lyon au 18e, Un Siècle Surprenant
Musées Gadagne de Lyon, 22 November 2012 — 5 May 2013

Au 18e siècle, Lyon pense, Lyon imagine, Lyon construit, Lyon s’enrichit…

Au 18e siècle, Lyon est une ville innovante et avant-gardiste au cœur des réseaux commerciaux, financiers et intellectuels. Sensible aux idées des Lumières, riche et commerçante, Lyon connaît une croissance économique exceptionnelle avec le développement de la faïence, des armes et de la soierie, annonçant, notamment, les révolutions industrielles du siècle suivant. La ville est au centre des débats littéraires et philosophiques qui animent la seconde moitié du siècle et un lieu de développement de la franc-maçonnerie. C’est une cité qui imagine la ville de demain avec les ingénieurs et architectes fabuleux que sont Morand, Perrache ou Soufflot. Ces grands projets urbanistiques ont une résonance surprenante avec les grands chantiers de 2012, tels les aménagements du nouveau quartier de Confluence ou la réhabilitation de l’Hôtel-Dieu.

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From Somogy éditions:

Catalogue: Maria-Anne Privat-Savigny, ed., Lyon au 18e: Un Siècle Surprenant (Paris: Somogy éditions d’art, 2012), 312 pages, ISBN: 978-2757205808, 35€.

Ouvrage collectif sous la direction de Maria-Anne Privat-Savigny, le catalogue suit le parcours de l’exposition tout en lui apportant l’analyse de 40 auteurs, chacun spécialiste de son domaine. De l’architecture à l’urbanisme, de la vie religieuse à la vie politique, des enjeux économiques, commerciaux, financiers et bancaires aux préoccupations et débats intellectuels, Lyon apparaît, au 18ème siècle, comme une ville innovante, enthousiaste, pétillante de nouveautés, cultivée, riche, essentielle à l’économie du royaume et au commerce européen, définitivement ouverte sur le monde. Perrache et Morand ont inventé l’urbanisme du siècle suivant, les jésuites ont mis en place le ballet moderne, tandis que la Saône a vu naviguer le premier bateau à vapeur et que des discussions vives et d’une remarquable modernité animent le monde de l’éducation. Lyon est, au siècle des Lumières, définitivement moderne et tournée vers l’avenir.

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The programming is extensive, including talks on the following themes:

• Autour de l’exposition
• Rencontres métiers d’art
• La science au siècle des Lumières
• Rousseau à Lyon

My apologies for posting this one so late. I’m afraid this is the last weekend. -CH

From The Holburne Museum:

Bouke De Vries: War & Pieces
The Holburne Museum, Bath, 1 September — 2 December 2012

Bouke de Vries, War & Pieces, installation at
The Holburne Museum, Bath, 2012

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Ceramic artist Bouke de Vries has created a unique contemporary installation on the Holburne’s Ballroom table. His work is inspired by the eighteenth-century fashion for decorating banqueting tables with extravagant porcelain and sugar sculptures, War & Pieces draws on the tradition of grand banquets and balls held on the eve of battle.

The centre-piece is a dramatic atomic-bomb mushroom cloud made using shards of white ceramics, old and new, around which the table is set with an intervention incorporating Sir William Holburne’s Chinese tobacco-leaf pattern dinner service. A battle will be fought out along the table with figures derived from 1770s Derby porcelain, some of which have mutated into cyborgs using elements from plastic toys – a new and contemporary material fighting to defeat the forces of sugar and ceramic.