Feature | ‘The Experience of Colour’ Exhibition at Sèvres

PARIS––Sèvres presents its exhibition The Experience of Colour this fall––a new unique journey of the senses, over and beyond ceramics.

The Experience of Colour explores the perception of colours by artists, adopting an essentially sensorial approach to this fundamental question. A source of pleasure, a symbol of power, a memory stimulus––colours are powerful artistic tools that influence our emotions, effective well beyond our rational thoughts. The Experience of Colour invites you to experience colour as matter, colour as space, colour as light, and colour as movement and technique.

Contributing to building the Sèvres brand is the Manufacture de Sèvres laboratory where a thousand and one colours have been created since 1740. These colours serve as the point of departure for the exhibition. From alchemy to chemistry, the inventiveness of the Sèvres palette and its flamboyant colours have revolutionized fashion and taste in the realm of the decorative arts. Celestial bleu, Sèvres blue, Pompadour pink, Sottsass orange, Hyber green––such shades are created and skillfully prepared to answer the needs of artists. The experimental “émaux-thèques” enamels by Emmanuel Boos and the works imagined by the designer-colourists Scholten & Baijings and Doshi Levien, artists in residence, testify to the colourful effervescence that has ever reigned at Sèvres.

Adopting a cross-cutting and resolutely contemporary approach to colour in art and creation, the exhibition curator Frédéric Bodet does not limit his exploration to the Sèvres laboratory. He also considers international ceramics and colourful experimentations in other artistic domains: painting, graphic arts, design, glass, textiles, cosmetic photography and gastronomy. Works by great French and foreign ceramists, both contemporary and past artists (Ernest Chaplet, Emile Decoeur, Théodore Deck, Daniel de Montmollin, Philippe Lambercy, Jean Girel and more) enter into dialogue with influential contributions by fine artists considered veritable “colour gurus” of the 20th century (Josef Albers, Sonia Delaunay, Gérard Fromanger, Yves Klein, Jean-Philippe Lenclos, Andrée Lemonnier and more).

The 400 thrilling, vibrant works form a maelstrom of different shapes, textures and materials. Most consist of exceptional loans from national collections, notably the Centre Pompidou (some fifty works), but also the Cité de la Céramique – Sèvres et Limoges, the Arts Décoratifs, the Centre National des Arts Plastiques, the Mobilier National and CIRVA. In addition, numerous artists, galleries and private collectors have kindly made available various works for the exhibition.

This ambitious project is the subject of a reference catalogue and offers an educational cultural events programme for the entire public, made possible thanks to partnerships with private bodies and public institutions.

Text from gallery.