Welcome to NewsFile, our weekly roundup of newsy tidbits and happenings from the worlds of contemporary ceramic art and contemporary ceramics.
Settlement Reached Over Rare Porcelain Figurines
The Museum of Fine Arts Boston has reached a settlement with the estate of a Jewish collector over seven porcelain figurines that were sold in the midst of Nazi persecution in Germany.
ArtForum writes, The museum has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to the estate so it may keep the eighteenth-century Harlequin figurines in its collection. The objects were put on view last week in the institution’s Angelica Lloyd Russell Gallery.
The MFA is one of the only institutions in the country that has proactively researched objects in its collection that are potentially problematic due to connections to Nazi-related thefts, Artnet writes.
[The] heirs had originally sold the artworks in an estate auction following her death in 1937. The revenue from the sale was put into an account at the M.M. Warburg Bank in Hamburg. However, the bank was then sold to non-Jewish owners and Budge’s descendants were forced to flee Germany. While some of her heirs remained, they were most likely denied access to the account and persecuted by the Nazis.
In this case, scrutiny centered on the auction proceeds of the works, writes Artnet, as opposed to the sole question of whether they were sold under duress, as has been the case with many other Nazi-loot claims.
NEA Funding Off the Chopping Block…For Now
The art world can take a momentary sigh of relief with the comfort in a National Endowment for the Arts budget agreement reached late last month by Congressional leaders, the LA Times writes.
In fact, the agreement includes a provision that not only staves off budget cuts, but actually bolsters the NEA budget by $2M to $149.8M — nearly the amount it requested from Congress back in 2016 to address increased costs.
The NEA told the LA Times:
“In this bill, the NEA is funded at its FY 2017 request level of $149.849 million. … The agency has been operating at its FY 2016 appropriation of $147.949 since October 1, 2016. Congress is expected to pass this bill later in the week, and the President is expected to sign it.”
Olivier van Herpt Collaborates with COS
In a special commission for fashion and lifestyle label COS, Olivier van Herpt has created a series of five vases using his custom-designed 3D printer. The vessels are currently on display at a selection of COS stores around the world.
Herpt combines cutting-edge technology with natural materials to create intricately textured ceramic vessels. Based in Eindhoven, he has developed pioneering 3D printing and digital fabrication methods honed by years of research and experimentation, COS writes.
Herpt says he drew inspiration from the COS Summer 2017 line.
“With the combination of textures and outlines, it’s almost as if the clothing and wearer merge together to create new forms. I used this idea as the starting point to develop three pairs of vases.”
Read the entire interview with van Herpt here.
Do you love or loathe these newsy tidbits from the worlds of contemporary ceramic art and contemporary ceramics? Let us know in the comments.
I’m proud that my local museum is proactive in trying to assuage for the wrongs of the past.
Herpt’s pieces seem to pull the focus away from the technology of their making and back to the ideas and the form. Would we pay attention if these weren’t made with a printer? I think we would. (Not so much with most of the other 3d printed ceramics out there.)