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What is: Ceramic Art?
Ceramic is one of the most ubiquitous and ancient arts. Its purpose can be domestic, decorative, ritualistic or pure artistic expression, with form and function varying hugely across time and cultures.
Director of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts Paul Greenhalgh invites us to connect with the emotional resonance of ceramic, exploring the beauty and mystery of an art that belongs everywhere and to all people.
Time Period:
Various
Themes:
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.
10:32
The Secrets of the Witham Shield
Teach your eyes to see the powerful symbols hidden in Celtic designs.
9:08
Josiah Wedgwood: Tycoon of Taste
Tristram Hunt traces how Josiah Wedgwood changed the face of the decorative arts in Britain with his ambitious pottery designs.
10:00
Albert Irvin: ‘Colours of Feeling’
Discover the life force behind Albert Irvin’s vibrant paintings.
10:32
Teach your eyes to see the powerful symbols hidden in Celtic designs.
9:08
Tristram Hunt traces how Josiah Wedgwood changed the face of the decorative arts in Britain with his ambitious pottery designs.
10:00
Discover the life force behind Albert Irvin’s vibrant paintings.
15:48
‘The drawings are traces of a life, creating territories in relation to limits and potentials. Communications transmitted to whoever will regard them.’ — Prof. Michael Newman
15:32
Is specialist knowledge needed to enjoy and understand art?
25:39
A survey into why and how artists have portrayed the melancholic throughout art history, with accompanying lute music.