Modernism

A Legacy in Clay: The Ceramics of Pablo Picasso in Return to Earth

1 Comment / Picasso Ceramics /

Presented September 21, 2013.

'Pablo Picasso: Life with Art' – Dakin Hart, Senior Curator, The Noguchi Museum, New York

In this presentation Dakin Hart explores Picasso’s transition to ceramic practice after World War Two. Tracing the personal, social and political factors which lead to Picasso’s desire to create objects which merged both sculpture and painting to create a visual legacy which would withstand the test of time.

Organized to coincide with the public opening of the exhibition 'Return to Earth: Ceramic Sculpture of Fontana, Melotti, Miró, Noguchi, and Picasso, 1943–1963', this symposium offers a number of new perspectives on the often-overlooked, yet ground-breaking work in fired clay of some of the most important artists of the 20th century.

Watch other presentation from the 'Return to Earth' Symposium:
'Joan Miró and the Artigases: A Phantasmagoric World of Living Monsters' – Jed Morse, Chief Curator, Nasher Sculpture Center

'Isamu Noguchi Ceramics: A Kind of Antisculpture' – Catherine Craft, Adjunct Assistant Curator for Research and Exhibitions, Nasher Sculpture Center

'A View from Today': Panel Discussion

Since 2006, Dakin Hart has been a prolific independent curator and researcher. Recent projects have included an unconventional retrospective of work by the American Fluxus, mail, and book artist Davi Det Hompson, on view at the ZieherSmith Gallery, New York, through March 2, 2013; and 'Sculpture in So Many Words: Text Pieces 1960–1980', which was presented at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas in 2013. From 2007–2010, he worked with Picasso scholar John Richardson to develop a series of exhibitions for Gagosian Gallery exploring aspects of Picasso’s career. From 2006–2007, he was research assistant for Mr. Richardson on the third volume of the latter’s ongoing biography of Picasso, 'A Life of Picasso Vol. III: The Triumphant Years'. He has contributed a catalogue essays on Picasso, for the 'Return to Earth'. Dakin Hart has served as Assistant Director, Nasher Sculpture Center (2002–2004); Director of Arts Programs and Artistic Director, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA (2000–2002); and Director of the Lucas Artist Residency Program, the third oldest artists’ community in the U.S. (2002). He was Assistant to the Director of The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco from 1995–2000. Dakin Hart earned his B.A. in English, with a minor in art history, from Georgetown University, and an M.A. in the history of art from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, where he is presently working to complete his PhD (dissertation in process; projected 2013).

The Nasher Sculpture Center’s ongoing 360 Speaker Series features conversations and lectures on the ever-expanding definition of sculpture. Guests are invited to witness first-hand accounts of the inspiration behind some of the world’s most innovative artwork, architecture and design.

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The 360 videography project is supported by Suzanne and Ansel Aberly. This support enables digital recording of all 360 Speaker Series programs and the creation of an online archive for learners of all ages.

David Rago on Peter Voulkos

Leave a Comment / Hans Coper, Peter Voulkos /

"About seven years ago I was taping with Antiques Roadshow, in Arizona somewhere. A gentleman walked in with two pieces of pottery by Peter Voulkos, typical of his earlier work; Japanese inspired, hand thrown, earthenware pieces with brush painted flowers. He'd known Shoji Himada, the Japanese master, the national treasure, and was deeply inspired by him. This is what typified Voulkos' early work as a potter up until about the early fifties. What was fascinating about these pieces was the story behind them. The gentleman, it seems, worked in Greenwich Village, at a, I don't think we could call it a new age bookstore, but a pretty hip bookstore at that time, and Voulkos had come into New York City with these pots and a number of other ones that he'd given them to sell in the bookstore. They did that. They worked with local artists and they made some money selling the art that the artists brought and the artist got some pocket change. These were two that hadn't sold and the man kept them all these years.

As he further explained the story, the reason Voulkos was in New York City was because he had been teaching with Franz Klein at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina and followed Klein to Manhattan to meet the abstract expressionists, of which, of whom Klein was one. These pots were a point of divergence, because they were what got Voulkos to New York City and then suddenly he cast that aside, hanging out with people like Pollack and Klein and whoever else was working there, and then he created something like this which is totally different. As such, Voulkos became to ceramic what Klein and the abstract expressionists were to oil paint. It really marked a critical point, not just for Voulkos' work, but for what the concept of decorative ceramics in America was at that time and would become.

Another fascinating point about Voulkos was that he died fairly young. He died in his seventies. He died about a decade ago and unlike most aging artists, his work just got better and better as he aged. This pot behind me called Anastasi was made in 1999. A magnificent seven foot tall stack piece with all of the bells and whistles one looks for in Voulkos' work including his hands jammed into the side, and pieces are cut up in one place and stuck some place else. Very macho, very expressive and very powerful. Of the best of these, Voulkos made bronze castings. Nine Anastasi bronzes were made. Most of them made posthumously by the same man who made them with Voulkos while he was still alive, and we're really quite honored to have one of these masterpieces coming up in our June Modern Sale, 2014. I hope you come look at it. Free to the public. Come hang out, but not the least of which is Anastasi the bronze. Thank you."