this must be the place, a major new exhibition of de Waal's vitrines and stone benches, is open until the end of October at Gagosian's West 24th Street space.
this must be the place, a major new exhibition of de Waal's vitrines and stone benches, is open until the end of October at Gagosian's West 24th Street space.
De Waal relates: “For the last two years my studio has been full of silver, steel, marble, and porcelain. This new body of work is about place—where things come from, where they belong, what we remember and pass on. The materials echo places. I use porcelain clay from Limoges but turn it black with oxides and inscribe it with remembered poetry. I use marble from Kilkenny and push folded sheets of silver into crevices like prayers into a wall. The work is full of fragments, scraps of silver on the rims of bowls, poems, music, echoes of people that matter to me and the places where they lived. These sculptures are new places.”
this must be the place is complemented by the presentation of to light, and then return— at Gagosian’s gallery at 976 Madison Avenue, New York, from September 14 to October 28, 2023. This exhibition features sculptures by de Waal and platinum prints and tintypes by Sally Mann that each artist created in response to the other’s work.
Photography: Alzbeta Jaresova
Several new works, including the tsukubai illustrated here, wind, water, stone, have been installed at the New Art Centre at Roche Court, Wiltshire.
white island, II (for W.B.), which as a part of de Waal's exhibition white island at Museu d’Art Contemporani d’Eivissa, Ibiza, in 2018, has now been donated to the museum.
white island, II (for W.B.), which as a part of de Waal's exhibition white island at Museu d’Art Contemporani d’Eivissa, Ibiza, in 2018, has now been donated to the museum.
Photography: Vicent Marí
im Goldhaus (2019) is now on display in the Böttger Room of the Porcelain Gallery of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.
im Goldhaus (2019) is now on display in the Böttger Room of the Porcelain Gallery of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.
im Goldhaus was commissioned by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) for their permanent collection to mark 300 years since the death of the German alchemist, Johann Friedrich Böttger.
Titled after the laboratory of Augustus II the Strong, the Goldhaus am Zwinger was a place of alchemy; a testing-ground for research into minerals and ores, where Böttger and E. W. von Tschirnhaus conducted their experiments leading to the invention of European porcelain. ‘I have an image of a laboratory bench in the Goldhaus,’ de Waal writes, 'a place of enquiry and possibility... It is a vitrine which allows me to think through philosophy, optics, burnished mirrors, white porcelain, honed marble, gold and light…a floating installation through which you can see through towards Böttger or the menagerie or a Meissen dinner service. It is a sculpture of beginnings.'
Image © SKD. Photography: Oliver Killig.
metamorphosen, I (2017) has been gifted to the British Ambassador's Residence in Vienna, Austria, where it is now on display.
One of de Waal's largest installations to date, Signs & Wonders (2009) is on permanent display in the cupola of the V&A Museum in London. Commissioned in 2009 to celebrate the opening of the new ceramics galleries, the red circular shelf floats high up in the dome of the fourth floor and holds 425 porcelain vessels.
De Waal's 2007 piece, a change in the weather, is permanently installed in the conservatory at the New Art Centre, Roche Court, Salisbury.
De Waal's 2007 piece, a change in the weather, is permanently installed in the conservatory at the New Art Centre, Roche Court, Salisbury.
Photography: Paul Barker
a sounding line (2007) is on permanent display at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire.
Made especially for the Rijksmuseum, an idea (for the journey) was installed in the entrance to the Asian Pavilion in 2013. Two vitrines with cloudy, translucent glass, echo a pair of silk scroll paintings or the pages of an open book - the row of porcelain, a line of text.
Made especially for the Rijksmuseum, an idea (for the journey) was installed in the entrance to the Asian Pavilion in 2013. Two vitrines with cloudy, translucent glass, echo a pair of silk scroll paintings or the pages of an open book - the row of porcelain, a line of text.
24 porcelain vessels in a pair of aluminium and translucent plexiglass vitrines
152 × 133 × 15 cm overall
Photos: Edmund de Waal
a local history (2012) is a permanent installation for the Alison Richard Building at the University of Cambridge.
atlas (2012) was made as the partner piece to a local history and is on permanent display on the first floor of the Alison Richard Building at the University of Cambridge.
Edmund de Waal’s work, archiv (2016), is on permanent loan to the Jewish Museum in Berlin. The work was originally part of de Waal's solo exhibition, Irrkunst, held at Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin, in 2016.
The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney have acquired Edmund de Waal’s work, oir-thir (2016), for their permanent collection.
from the collection of a private man (2011) is on loan to the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich until 2024.
across the sky (2013) was acquired by the Usher Gallery in Lincoln and now is on permanent display in their ceramics collections.
Given to the V&A in 2015 to celebrate the former Chairman of the V&A Museum, Paul Ruddock, this piece is on permanent display in the ceramics galleries.
Given to the V&A in 2015 to celebrate the former Chairman of the V&A Museum, Paul Ruddock, this piece is on permanent display in the ceramics galleries.
Photo: Ian Skelton
De Waal's 2013 piece The First Day and the First Hour has been donated to the newly-renovated Art Gallery at Nottingham Castle.
De Waal's 2013 piece The First Day and the First Hour has been donated to the newly-renovated Art Gallery at Nottingham Castle.
Photography: Freddy Griffiths