Edmund de Waal
Edmund de Waal is known internationally for this celadon porcelains as well as for his writing and lecturing on the subject of 20th century British studio ceramics. He has specialised in the use of thrown Limoges porcelain with a celadon glaze sometimes oxidised to a creamy tone. His work is often arranged in large quantities forming precious ‘cargo’ sets.
Working in London
1985 Trinity Hall Scholarship
1986 Trinity Hall, Cambridge (B.A. Hons English Literature)
1992 Sheffield University, Sheffield (Post Graduate Diploma in Japanese Language)
1991 – 1993 Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Scholarship
2000 – 2002 Senior Research Fellow in Ceramics, University of Westminster
‘De Waal’s art speaks to his enduring fascination with the nature of objects and the attendant history of their collection and display. His poignant memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010) is a family biography whose recurring motif through five generations is a large collection of netsuke. A potter since childhood and an acclaimed writer, de Waal’s studies of the history of ceramics have taken him from ancient Japan to late modernism. He confronts European and Asian traditions of intimate craftsmanship with the scale and sequence of minimalist art and music.
De Waal’s desire to transcend utilitarian pottery was evident in his transition during the 1980s from clay to more refined porcelain, a medium that demands acute focus of mind and eye as well as a swift hand. A new audacity is expressed in the sheer number of pots and their arrangement. Impact is achieved through scale and multiplicity, yet the subtle iterations of the handmade process are maintained.’
From the catalogue of Edmund de Waal: Atemwende, 2013
Edmund de Waal has work in the following public collections:
The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Banque Parisbas, London
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham
The British Council, London
Cartwright Hall, Bradford
Contemporary Art Society, London
Crafts Council, London
The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Geffrye Museum, London
National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke on Trent
Schroeders Investment Bank, London
Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead
Stoke-on-Trent Museum, Stoke-on-Trent
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool York City Art Gallery, York
IBM Collection, Copenhagen, Denmark
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, USA
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA
Museum of Decorative Arts, Montreal, Canada
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA
Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
World Ceramic Exposition Museum, Ichon, Korea
Museum of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
University Church of Christ the King, London
Heythrop College, London
(continued in biography)
There are currently no works available by this artist.