On view
Current exhibition

Playing with Fire: Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto

Kunstsilo, Kristiansand, Norway

27 September 2024–2 March 2025

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Playing with Fire, a collaboration between Edmund de Waal, CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art Denmark and Kunstsilo in Norway, is now open at the Kunstsilo before its final stop at The Hepworth Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in 2025.


Playing with Fire, a collaboration between Edmund de Waal, CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art Denmark and Kunstsilo in Norway, is now open at the Kunstsilo before its final stop at The Hepworth Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in 2025.

This exhibition brings together a significant number of Salto’s ceramic works from the CLAY Museum and The Tangen Collection at Kunstsilo, the world’s largest collection of Nordic modernist art. Salto’s ceramics are being shown alongside his lesser-known and unseen works on paper, illustrations, writings and textiles, and a major new installation by de Waal which reflects on Salto’s enduring influence.

“Axel Salto is one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. He created a unique body of ceramic work that continues to fascinate me. His sculptures seem to be on the point of change: glazes are caught in flux. Vases swell as if to burst. He cared about the ways that patterns change course, shift energies, how an animal becomes a person, a man metamorphoses into a stag. Ovid ran powerfully through his life. That moment of change, transformation, is the moment when poetry occurs.”

- Edmund de Waal

Photography: Tor Simen Ulstein

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Current exhibition

British Studio Pottery and the V&A

Victoria & Albert Museum, London

28 October 2024–28 September 2025

Landscape with a calm 01

A selection of works by Edmund de Waal from the V&A collection are included in this exhibition which explores the museum's collecting and exhibiting of studio pottery from the movement's beginnings to the present day.

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Current exhibition

Memory & Migration

The Warburg Institute, London

2 October–20 December 2024

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To mark the completion of the Warburg Renaissance project and the opening of the Institute’s new gallery space, Memory & Migration presents a selection of objects from the collection that explore its interwoven histories of movement and survival. Included in the exhibition is Edmund de Waal's library of exile, which has been donated to the institute.

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Current exhibition

Mind the Gap: Selections from the Permanent Collection

Georgia Museum of Art

21 September–1 December 2024

Letters to Amherst II front Edmund de Waal Gagosian New York

De Waal's 2023 piece Letters to Amherst, II, is currently on view at the Georgia Museum of Art as part of their current exhibition highlighting recent acquisitions to the permanent collection.

De Waal's 2023 piece Letters to Amherst, II, is currently on view at the Georgia Museum of Art as part of their current exhibition highlighting recent acquisitions to the permanent collection.

Photography: Alzbeta Jaresova

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Current exhibition

wind, water, stone

New Art Centre, Wiltshire

Edmund de Waal wind water stone at New Art Centre

Several new works, including the tsukubai illustrated here, wind, water, stone, have been installed at the New Art Centre at Roche Court, Wiltshire.

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Acquisition

Spur

Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern

Spur 01 2

Spur, 2016, has been acquired for the permanent collection of the Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, following its inclusion in the major retrospective of the work of Rudolf Levy, co-organised by the MPK and the Uffizi.

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Donated

one equal light

St Mary's Bourne Street

London

EDW one equal light installation view 4

one equal light (2023) has been donated to St Mary's Bourne Street where it is installed in the corridor linking the Church with the Russell Room, the focal point of organisation's new community space.

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Donated

white island, II (for W.B.)

Museu d’Art Contemporani d’Eivissa, Ibiza

MACE Ibiza

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

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Permanent collection

im Goldhaus

Porzellansammlung, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden

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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.

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Loan

metamorphosen, I

British Ambassador's Residence, Vienna

Metamorphosen I 2017 5

metamorphosen, I (2017) has been gifted to the British Ambassador's Residence in Vienna, Austria, where it is now on display.

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Installation

Signs & Wonders

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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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.

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Permanent installation

a change in the weather

New Art Center, Salisbury

A change in the weather Paul Barker NAC 2013

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

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Permanent installation

a sounding line

Chatsworth House, Derbyshire

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a sounding line (2007) is on permanent display at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire.

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Permanent installation

an idea (for the journey)

The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

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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

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Loan

of discretion in giving, II

Aberdeen City Art Gallery

Of discretion in giving II 2017

of discretion in giving, II, 2017, is on loan to Aberdeen City Art Gallery.

of discretion in giving, II, 2017, is on loan to Aberdeen City Art Gallery.

Photography: Mike Bruce

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Installation

a local history

Alison Richard Building, University of Cambridge

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a local history (2012) is a permanent installation for the Alison Richard Building at the University of Cambridge. 

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Installation

atlas

Alison Richard Building, University of Cambridge 

Atlas 20122 Edit

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. 

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Loan

archiv

The Jewish Museum, Berlin
Permanent loan

Archiv 01

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.

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Acquisition

oir-thir

The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney
Acquisition

Oir Thir 01

The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney have acquired Edmund de Waal’s work, oir-thir (2016), for their permanent collection.

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Acquisition

across the sky

The Usher Gallery, Lincoln

Across The Sky 3 Website

across the sky (2013) was acquired by the Usher Gallery in Lincoln and now is on permanent display in their ceramics collections.

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Acquisition

the collector (for Paul)

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The collector for Paul VA 2015 tif front view crop for web

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

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Donated

the first day and the first hour

Nottingham Castle Trust

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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

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