
Edmund de Waal is an artist who writes. Much of his work is about the contingency of memory: bringing particular histories of loss and exile into renewed life. Both his artistic and written practice have broken new ground through their critical engagement with the history and potential of ceramics, as well as with architecture, music, dance and poetry. De Waal continually investigates themes of diaspora, memorial, materiality and the colour white with his interventions and artworks made for diverse spaces and museums worldwide.
Recent sites include the Venetian Ghetto and Ateneo Veneto for his two-part project, psalm, coinciding with the Venice Biennale 2019. The latter holds de Waal’s most ambitious work to date, the library of exile: a pavilion of 2,000 books written by those forced to leave their own country or exiled within it. Other museum interventions include elective affinities at The Frick Collection, New York (2019); —one way or other— at the Schindler House, Los Angeles (2018); white island at MACE, Ibiza (2018); Morandi / de Waal at Artipelag, Stockholm (2017); and during the night, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna (2016), an exhibition on anxiety, curated from their permanent collections. Kneaded Knowledge: The Language of Ceramics, a group exhibition co-curated with Ai Weiwei exploring the history of clay, was shown both at the National Gallery in Prague and Kunsthaus, Graz (2016).
Edmund de Waal is an artist who writes. Much of his work is about the contingency of memory: bringing particular histories of loss and exile into renewed life. Both his artistic and written practice have broken new ground through their critical engagement with the history and potential of ceramics, as well as with architecture, music, dance and poetry. De Waal continually investigates themes of diaspora, memorial, materiality and the colour white with his interventions and artworks made for diverse spaces and museums worldwide.
Recent sites include the Venetian Ghetto and Ateneo Veneto for his two-part project, psalm, coinciding with the Venice Biennale 2019. The latter holds de Waal’s most ambitious work to date, the library of exile: a pavilion of 2,000 books written by those forced to leave their own country or exiled within it. Other museum interventions include elective affinities at The Frick Collection, New York (2019); —one way or other— at the Schindler House, Los Angeles (2018); white island at MACE, Ibiza (2018); Morandi / de Waal at Artipelag, Stockholm (2017); and during the night, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna (2016), an exhibition on anxiety, curated from their permanent collections. Kneaded Knowledge: The Language of Ceramics, a group exhibition co-curated with Ai Weiwei exploring the history of clay, was shown both at the National Gallery in Prague and Kunsthaus, Graz (2016).
From 2013-2015, a series of projects and events were held to coincide with the publication of The White Road: a pilgrimage of sorts in 2015, including white at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2015) and On White at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (2013).
Poets and writers from Paul Celan, Emily Dickinson and Wallace Stevens, to John Cage and Walter Benjamin have been constant touchstones for de Waal’s work and most profoundly so for his recent solo exhibitions; a sort of speech (2019) and Irrkunst (2016) at Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin; breath, Ivorypress, Madrid (2019); the poems of our climate, Gagosian, San Francisco (2018); and Atemwende, Gagosian, New York (2013).
Among his major installations on permanent display are Signs & Wonders (2009) at the V&A Museum, London; an idea (for the journey) (2013) at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; a local history (2012) at the University of Cambridge; and a sounding line for Chatsworth House, Derbyshire (2007).
His first set design featured in the 2017/18 Season at the Royal Opera House for Yugen, a new ballet by choreographer Wayne McGregor.
De Waal is also renowned for his bestselling memoir, The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010), which won many literary prizes including the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the Costa Biography Award and has been translated into over 30 languages. In 2016, it was chosen as the Independent Bookshop Week's Book of the Decade. Other titles include The White Road (2015), The Pot Book (2011), 20th Century Ceramics (2003) and de Waal’s critical study on Bernard Leach for Tate (1997).
De Waal was made an OBE in 2011 and a CBE in 2021 for his services to art. In 2015 he was awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for non-fiction by Yale University. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of the Arts London, Nottingham, Sheffield, York and Canterbury Christ Church universities and is an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. De Waal is on the Advisory Committee for The Royal Mint and is a Trustee for the Gilbert Trust. He is also a Patron of Paintings in Hospitals.
Edmund de Waal was born in 1964 in Nottingham. He lives and works in London.
Photo: Tom Jamieson
2021 | Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for Services to the Arts |
2021 | Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature |
2020-present | Co-opted member of the Museum of Childhood |
2016 | Honorary Doctorate, University of York |
2015 | Windham-Campbell Prize for Non-Fiction, Yale University |
2014 | Honorary Doctorate, University of Nottingham |
2014 | Honorary Doctorate, Canterbury Christ Church University |
2013 | Honorary Doctorate, University of the Arts, London |
2013 | Honorary Doctorate of Letters, University of Sheffield |
2012 | Senior Fellowship, Royal College of Art, London |
2012 | Member of the Advisory Committee for The Royal Mint |
2011-present | Trustee of the Gilbert Trust |
2011 | Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for Services to the Arts |
2011 | Costa Biography Award, Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize |
2009 | Honorary Fellow, Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge |
2004-2010 | Chair of Trustees, Crafts Study Centre, Farnham |
2003 | Silver Medal, World Ceramics Exposition, Icheon, Korea |
1999-2001 | Fellowship, The Leverhulme Trust |
1996 | Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts |
1991-1993 | Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Scholarship |
1991–1992 | Post-graduate Diploma in Japanese Language, University of Sheffield |
1983–1986 | BA Hons. English Literature (First Class), Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge |
1985 | Scholarship, Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge |
1981–1983 | Apprenticeship with Geoffrey Whiting, Canterbury |
Selected solo exhibitions and installations |
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2022 | their bright traces. Gana Art Center, Seoul |
2021 | Lettres à Camondo. Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris. This Living Hand: Edmund de Waal presents Henry Moore. Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, Perry Green sukkah. Canterbury Cathedral, Kent |
2020 | library of exile. British Museum, London tacet. New Art Centre, Salisbury cold mountain clay. Gagosian Gallery, Hong Kong some winter pots. Gagosian Gallery, London |
2019 | breath. Ivorypress, Madrid psalm. Jewish Museum and Ateneo Veneto, Venice Elective Affinities. Frick Collection, New York a sort of speech. Galerie Maz Hetzler, Berlin im Goldhaus. Pozellansammlung, Dresden library of exile. Japanisches Palais, Dresden |
2018 | the poems of our climate. Gagosian Gallery, San Francisco – one way or other –. The Schindler House, Los Angeles white island. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Ibiza, Ibiza Early work: vessels from the Rosenheimer Collection. New Art Centre, Wiltshire Yugen. Set design for Wayne McGregor's ballet at the Royal Opera House, London |
2017 | Morandi / Edmund de Waal. Artipelag, Stockholm Lettres de Londres. Espace Muraille, Geneva |
2016 | During the Night. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Kneaded Knowledge: The Language of Ceramics. Kunsthaus Graz, Graz Irrkunst. Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin ten thousand things. Gagosian Gallery, Beverley Hills |
2015 | white. Royal Academy of Arts, London If we attend. Pallant House Gallery, Chichester |
2014 | Atmosphere. Turner Contemporary, Margate Lichtzwang. Theseus Temple, Vienna another hour. Southwark Cathedral, London |
2013 | Atemwende. Gagosian Gallery, New York On White: Porcelain Stories from the Fitzwilliam Museum. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
2012 | a thousand hours. Alan Cristea Gallery, London a local history. Alison Richard Building, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Edmund de Waal at Waddesdon. Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire |
2010 | From Zero. Alan Cristea Gallery, London night works. New Art Centre, Salisbury |
2009 | Signs & Wonders. Victoria & Albert Museum, London Very Moveable Things: An Intervention. Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, Gloucestershire |
2007 | A Sounding Line. Chatsworth House, Derbyshire Edmund de Waal at Kettle’s Yard, mima and elsewhere. Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough |
2006 | Vessel, perhaps. Millgate Museum, Newark-on-Trent |
2005 | A line around a shadow. Blackwell: The Arts & Crafts House, Bowness-on-Windermere Arcanum: mapping 18th-Century European porcelain. National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff |
2004 | Porcelain Room. Kunstindustrimuseet, Copenhagen |
2002 | A Long Line West. Egg, London Porcelain Room. Geffrye Museum, London |
1999 | Modern Home. High Cross House, Dartington Hall, Devon |
1998 | Egg, London |
Selected group exhibitions |
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2022 | Living With Art We Love. Chatsworth House, Derbyshire Sensational Books. Bodleain Library, Oxford that other world, the world of the teapot. tenderness, a model. Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover The Fourth Dimension. Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Japan Norman McBeath and Edmund de Waal: Perdendosi. The Fine Art Society, Edinburgh |
2021 | The Flames: The Age of Ceramics. Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris Imago Mundi. Centro de Iniciativas Culturales, University of Seville, Spain Morandi. Resonancia infinita. Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid Masterpieces in Miniature: The 2021 Model Art Gallery. Pallant House Gallery, Chichester |
2020 | Duino Elegies. Gagosian, Madison Avenue, New York Blanc sur Blanc. Gagosian, Paris |
2018 | Samla, sortera, ta hand om. RIAN Design Museum, Falkenberg, Sweden The Precious Clay: Contemporary art and porcelain at the Museum of Royal Worcester. Museum of Royal Worcester Jessica Stockholder, Stuff Matters. Centraal Museum, Utrecht |
2017 | Orchestra of Letters. The Lettering Arts Centre, Snape Maltings Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven Benjamin and Brecht. Thinking in Extremes, Academy of Arts, Berlin |
2016 | la mia ceramica. Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris Seeing Round Corners. Turner Contemporary, Margate FOUND. Foundling Museum, London Artificial Realities. The Courtauld Institute of Art, London Generosity: On the Art of Giving. Kinsky Palace, Prague |
2015 | CERAMIX. Cité de la céramique, Sèvres; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht Resistance and Persistence. Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh Modern Japanese Design. Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester the lost and the found: work from Orkney. New Art Centre, Salisbury wavespeech. Pier Arts Centre, Orkney Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector. Barbican Art Gallery, London; Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich Chromophobia. Gagosian Gallery, Geneva |
2014 | Then and Now. Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin Group Show. Gagosian Gallery, Paris |
2010 | The Artists’ House. New Art Centre, Roche Court, Salisbury |
2009 | Kettle’s Yard at Tate Britain. Tate Britain, London |
2008 | Inside/Outside. New Art Centre, Roche Court, Salisbury |
2007 | The Long View. New Art Centre, Roche Court, Salisbury Garry Fabian Miller & Edmund de Waal. Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh |
2006 | Still Life. New Art Centre, Roche Court, Salisbury |
2005 | Premio Faenza: The International Competition of Ceramic Art, Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenze, Italy Transformations: Language of Craft. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra |
2004 | A Secret History of Clay. Tate Liverpool, Liverpool |
Selected catalogues and monographs |
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2020 | Library of Exile. The British Museum, London. Texts by Edmund de Waal, Hartwig Fischer and Elif Shafak |
2019 | elective affinities. The Frick Collection, New York. Texts by Edmund de Waal and Charlotte Vignon |
2018 | wavespeech. Wunderkammer Press. Texts by Edmund de Waal, David Ward and Rhona Warwick Paterson |
2017 | Edmund de Waal / Morandi. Artipelag, Stockholm. Texts by Bo Nilsson, Edmund de Waal, Jorunn Veiteberg and Frederik Sjöberg |
2016 | During the Night. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Texts by Lisa Appignanesi, Jasper Sharp and Edmund de Waal Kneaded Knowledge: The Language of Ceramics. Kunsthaus Graz, Graz. Texts by Peter Pakesch and Edmund de Waal Irrkunst. Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin. Text by Edmund de Waal ten thousand things. Gagosian Gallery, Beverley Hills. Text by Joan Simon |
2015 | white. Royal Academy of Arts, London. Text by Edmund de Waal |
2014 | Atmosphere. Turner Contemporary, Margate. Text by Edmund de Waal Edmund de Waal. Phaidon, London. Texts by Emma Crichton-Miller, Colm Toíbín, Peter Carey, A.S. Byatt, Alexandra Munroe, Deborah Saunt and Edmund de Waal |
2013 | Atemwende. Gagosian Gallery, New York. Text by Adam Gopnik On White: Porcelain Stories from the Fitzwilliam Museum. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Text by Edmund de Waal |
2012 | a thousand hours. Alan Cristea Gallery, London. Text by Colm Toíbín Edmund de Waal at Waddesdon Manor. Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire. Text by Juliet Carey and Edmund de Waal |
2010 | From Zero. Alan Cristea Gallery, London. Text by A.S. Byatt |
2009 | Signs & Wonders. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Texts by Alun Graves, Glenn Adamson and Edmund de Waal |
2007 | Edmund de Waal at Kettle’s Yard, mima and elsewhere. Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough. Texts by Jorunn Veiteberg, Helen Waters and a conversation between David Hills, Elizabeth Fisher and Edmund de Waal |
2005 | Edmund de Waal: A line around a shadow. Blackwell House: The Arts & Crafts House, Bowness-on- Windermere. Texts by Alun Graves and Simon Olding Arcanum: mapping 18th century European porcelain. National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff. Texts by Sebastian Kuhn, James Putnam, Edmund de Waal and a conversation between Jorunn Veiteberg and Bodil Busk Laursen |
2004 | A Secret History of Clay: From Gauguin to Gormley. Tate Liverpool, Liverpool. Texts by Simon Groom, Edmund de Waal and interviews with James Putnam and Antony Gormley |
1999 | Modern Home. High Cross House, Dartington Hall, Devon. Texts by Mike Tooby and Edmund de Waal |
- Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
- Banque Paribas, London
- Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
- British Council, London
- Cartwright Hall, Bradford
- Contemporary Arts Society, London
- Crafts Council, London
- Crafts Study Centre, Farnham
- Dimensional, London
- Fidelity, London
- Fidelity, Luxembourg
- Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
- Geffrye Museum, London
- Government Art Collection, London
- Heythrop College, London
- IBM Collection, Copenhagen
- Ismay Collection, Yorkshire Museum
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art
- Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art
- Middlebury College, Vermont
- Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, North Carolina
- Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt
- Museum of Arts and Design, New York
- Museum of Decorative Arts, Montreal
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
- St Georges’ Hospital, London
- Museum of Western Australia, Perth
- National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
- National Museum and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff
- Pallant House, Chichester
- Pier Arts Centre, Orkney
- Schroeder’s Bank, London
- Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead
- Stoke-on-Trent Museum
- The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London
- The University Church of Christ the King, London
- Trinity Hall, Cambridge
- Victoria & Albert Museum, London
- Voorlinden Museum, The Netherlands
- Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
- World Ceramic Exposition Museum, Ichon, Korea
- York Museum and Art Gallery