Concise but comprehensive, Ceramic Art brings together the voices of art historians, conservators, and artists to tell the history of making art from fired clay. The story spans history and continents, examining the global traditions of ceramists that range from pre-Columbian Peruvian artisans to contemporary African studio potters.
The volume shows how human need gave rise to multiple traditions in earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, glaze, and surface decoration from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. Essays describe the core materials and practice of ceramics, followed by consideration of its production, consumption, and use. Throughout, the focus is on the power of materials and the role conservation plays in the afterlife of a ceramic object.
An accessible introduction to an ancient practice, Ceramic Art offers new ways of thinking about the broader forces that have shaped the traditions of the medium.
Margaret S. Graves is associate professor of art history at Indiana University. Sequoia Miller is a historian, curator, and studio potter. He is chief curator at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto. Magdalene Odundo is a ceramist whose work is in the collections of the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, and the Frankfurt Museum for Applied Arts, among many others. She is chancellor of the University for the Creative Arts (UCA). Vicki Parry is conservator of objects in the Department of Objects Conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
"The eight essays in this anthology . . . demonstrate the enchanting and elusive nature of ceramics across time and cultures in a format accessible for someone new to ceramics yet also captivating for a well-versed collector. . . . Whatever your level of interest in ceramics, you will gain new perspectives from the thoughtful essays in Ceramic Art."—Jessie Dean, The Magazine of the Decorative Arts Trust
“Ceramic Art seeks to center a material history of art by exploring the significance of ceramics to human history and culture, illuminating what the role of ceramics in a globalized history of art might look like. The book offers a critical instruction to the material of ceramics.”—Michael Yonan, author of Messerschmidt’s Character Heads: Maddening Sculpture and the Writing of Art History
“Ceramic Art stresses the importance and centrality of ceramics through most of human art and culture from prehistoric times and into the future, providing a variety of perspectives from art historians, curators, conservators, a potter, and an archeologist. This engaging and well-written book offers an excellent introduction to the study of ceramics.”—Jane Gillies, Senior Conservator of Objects and Sculpture, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
