Home
Talks
Podcasts
The History of Ceramics
Sèvres - Power, Porcelain & Prestige
Sèvres - Power, Porcelain & Prestige
How did Marie Antoinette and Madame Pompadour help create the most famous and revered name in the history of ceramics? Join Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene as they travel to the French court of Versailles in the second half of the 18th century– a world of opulence, elegance, and high fashion, where a life of decadence was played out in porcelain.
Ceramics and artwork in this week’s episode include:
Tureen (Japanese Kakiemon style), 1725–51, Chantilly Porcelain Manufactory Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Tureen, 1749–50, Vincennes Porcelain Manufactory Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Madame de Pompadour, 1756, François Boucher Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Madame de Pompadour, 1759, François Boucher
Postcard – Sèvres – National Sèvres Manufactory – Gilding Workshop Wikimedia Commons (French Open Licence 1.0)
Dinner Plate, 1788, Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
Tureen (Rococo Style), 1758, Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory Courtesy of The Met Collection
Bleu Céleste Vase, 1779, Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory Walters Art Museum, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Circa 1890 Charles Louis Müller Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Bleu Céleste Dinner Plates (Manchester Service), 1776–83, Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
The Louis XVI Dinner Service, 1783—93 , Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
Apollo and Daphne Plate, 1802—03, Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Apollo and Daphne Plate, 1802—03, Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
Professor Paul Greenhalgh is a specialist on the art and design of the Modern period. He has written widely on Art Nouveau and curated several exhibitions including the major survey Art Nouveau 1890-1914, which toured internationally (2000-01). His books include Ephemeral Vistas (1988), Modernism in Design (1990), Art Nouveau 1890–1914 (2000), The Modern Ideal (2005), Fair World (2011), L’Art Nouveau: La Revolution Decorative (2013), Ceramic Art and Civilisation (2021) and Pablo Picasso: The Legacy of Youth (2022). He has held positions as Head of Research at the V&A Museum, London; President and Director at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Director of the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich; and Inaugural Director of the Zaha Hadid Foundation, London. He was born and raised in Bolton, and is a proud Lancastrian.
Stephanie Rozene is a ceramic artist, Professor of Art, and the Ceramics Program Coordinator at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York she has been teaching, writing and making art since 2004. At Hartwick she's been honored with the Wandersee Scholar in Residence award twice, along with the Teacher Scholar Award. Stephanie's research uses historical ornament and porcelain as a visual language to critique contemporary political rhetoric, and she also explores the history of clay as a cooking tool. Her work has been shown extensively both nationally and internationally. She is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics and is the Vice President of the board of trustees for the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, Maine, and was educated at NSCAD University in Nova Scotia, Canada and the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
More episodes
More episodes
51:34
Josiah Wedgwood - Part 1
In the next two episodes Paul Greenhalgh is joined by Sir Tristram Hunt as they travel back to 18th century England and the life and work of Josiah Wedgwood - potter, scientist and abolitionist and creator of one of the most famous ceramic companies in British history.
45.11
Josiah Wedgwood - Part 2
In this episode Paul Greenhalgh is joined by Sir Tristram Hunt for the 2nd part about the life and work of Josiah Wedgwood - creator of one of the most famous ceramic companies in British history.
1.04.20
Hector Guimard - The Father of French Art Nouveau
In this episode we travel to France to meet the father of French Art Nouveau and the sweeping organic forms that came to define one of the most exciting eras in European culture. But this time we aren’t talking pots or figures – but tiles - the other major force in ceramic culture.
51:34
Josiah Wedgwood - Part 1
In the next two episodes Paul Greenhalgh is joined by Sir Tristram Hunt as they travel back to 18th century England and the life and work of Josiah Wedgwood - potter, scientist and abolitionist and creator of one of the most famous ceramic companies in British history.
View episode
1.04.20
Hector Guimard - The Father of French Art Nouveau
In this episode we travel to France to meet the father of French Art Nouveau and the sweeping organic forms that came to define one of the most exciting eras in European culture. But this time we aren’t talking pots or figures – but tiles - the other major force in ceramic culture.
View episode
