Dotted among the weighty tomes of the Royal Academy’s Print Room and Library is a collection of seemingly random white artworks. One is a prototype of a porcelain table by Amanda Levete; another a 1920s teapot by Kazimir Malevich; and there’s a two-handled teacup and saucer, made c. 1720 in Meissen. It’s Edmund de Waal’s most treasured piece of porcelain, and one of the 40 objects selected by the British artist for a show entitled ‘White’. ‘It’s translucent, weighs almost nothing and took 20 years to make’, he says. ‘It sums up all the agonies of working with porcelain and it made the pilgrimage worth it.’
The 'pilgrimage' he’s referring to is the subject of his latest book, The White Road: a pilgrimage of sorts, which is an exploration of porcelain though the ages. De Waal spent years travelling from Jingdezhen in China to Venice, Versailles, even Dachau concentration camp, hunting out people who share his obsession with the material. He trekked up the Appalachian mountains with his son in search of the white clay once used by the Cherokee Indians and will be the first potter to use it since Josiah Wedgwood, who sent an expedition to excavate it 200 years ago.
De Waal made three new works for the show, and after writing The White Road still professes a love for porcelain that has, if anything, deepened. ‘I can’t imagine not loving it. It’s just that the love gets more complicated. Writing the book, I went to some grim and difficult places in history.’ (Himmler deployed slave labour from Dachau to produce porcelain artworks for the Nazis between 1935–1945.) ‘It feels like a compromised material, but then it would, as anything that tries to be pure brings difficulty with it.’
Admirers of de Waal’s writing will also be pleased to find in the library another of the artist’s most treasured objects – The Hare With Amber Eyes. De Waal’s first book of the same name brought ancient Japanese netsuke back to life. He hopes that The White Road will do the same for all those ‘totally forgotten people who have been though what I’ve been through. To me, anyway, they are not dead.’
De Waal's new book, The White Road: a pilgrimage of sorts, is an exploration of porcelain though the ages and the conceptual basis for the show. Pictured: a South Arabian calcite alabaster anthropomorphic stele, artist unknown. Courtesy of The Royal Academy
A two handled beaker made by Johann Friedrich Böttger in Meissen, Germany, c.1720, is de Waal's most treasured piece. Photography: Ian Skelton
De Waal made three new works for the show, and after writing The White Road still professes a love for porcelain that has, if anything, deepened. ‘I can’t imagine not loving it. It’s just that the love gets more complicated. Writing the book, I went to some grim and difficult places in history.’ Pictured: A Mind of Winter, by Edmund de Waal, 2015. Photography: Mike Bruce
INFORMATION
'White: a project by Edmund de Waal' is on view until 3 January 2016. The White Road: a pilgrimage of sorts is published by Chatto & Windus, £20
ADDRESS
Library and Print Room
Royal Academy
Burlington House
Piccadilly
London, W1J 0BD
-
Waiting for Ideas have recast the turntable as a minimal aluminium altar for vinyl worshipThe PP-1 turntable is an ultra-minimal, all-aluminium record player designed to enhance the vinyl experience
-
Fendi celebrates 100 years with an all-out runway show at its new Milan HQIn the wake of Kim Jones’ departure, Silvia Venturini Fendi took the reins for a special co-ed A/W 2025 collection marking the house’s centenary, unveiling it as the first act of celebrations within Fendi’s expansive new headquarters in Milan
-
‘Leigh Bowery!’ at Tate Modern: 1980s alt-glamour, club culture and rebellionThe new Leigh Bowery exhibition in London is a dazzling, sequin-drenched look back at the 1980s, through the life of one of its brightest stars
-
'We need to be constantly reminded of our similarities' – Jonathan Baldock challenges the patriarchal roots of a former Roman temple in LondonThrough use of ceramics and textiles, British artist Jonathan Baldock creates a magical and immersive exhibition at ‘0.1%’ at London's Mithraum Bloomberg Space
-
Genesis Belanger is seduced by the real and the fake in LondonSculptor Genesis Belanger’s solo show, ‘In the Right Conditions We Are Indistinguishable’, is open at Pace, London
-
Japanese ceramicist Eriko Inazaki wins 2023 Loewe Foundation Craft PrizeEriko Inazaki has been awarded the 2023 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize for her intricate ceramic work in a ceremony held at New York’s Noguchi Museum
-
Janny Baek’s psychedelic ceramics are objects in fluxKorean-American architect and sculptor Janny Baek speaks about expressing ‘vibrancy, pleasure, and hope’ through her vivid ceramics, ahead of a major show at Culture Object, New York (on view until 20 May 2023)
-
Paola Paronetto’s vibrant collaboration with Veuve Clicquot puts a new spin on the bottleCeramic artist Paola Paronetto's take on packaging for Veuve Clicquot is a multi-hued marvel. We visit the artist in her Porcia studio to discuss the collection of six gift boxes and limited-edition artwork
-
Ceramic artists: top trail-glazers breaking the mouldA way with clay: discover the contemporary ceramic artists firing up a new age for the medium
-
Theaster Gates’ New Museum exhibition meditates on mourning, materials and communityTheaster Gates talks about his first US museum show, ‘Young Lords and Their Traces’ at The New Museum (until 5 February 2023), a moving homage to the creative forces who came before
-
‘Strange Clay’ review: a mucky, uncanny, visceral survey of ceramic artAt London’s Hayward Gallery, group show ‘Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art’ sees ceramic artists explore the physical, psychological, political and power of their medium
