Jason Jacques proudly announces the opening of Behind the Curtain: Treasures from the Vault -- the gallery’s largest group exhibition to date. With over 100 works on view, this unprecedented historic show provides a wide-reaching survey of styles and design movements in ceramic art, from functional vessels to decorative sculpture, while emphasizing the clay medium’s role in the visual arts from the turn of the 20th century forward. Viewers will be able to witness the narrative arc of technical, aesthetic, and experimental developments in ceramic during a fascinating moment in its history.
Representing more than two-dozen ceramic artists and companies, masters of the Art Pottery Renaissance, the exhibition evokes the experience of visiting the vaunted ceramic vault in upstate New York where the gallery maintains its collection. Among the iconic ceramists included in this must-see exhibition are Taxile Doat, Galileo Chini, T.A.C. Colenbrander, Paul Daschel, and Pierre Adrien Dalpayrat. Together these artists pushed the boundaries of clay and explored innovative surfaces in Japonist, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco designs.
To celebrate this milestone event, a special reception and tour with Jason Jacques and Jason Busch will take place on Wednesday, July 11th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
“The artists presented in the exhibition are pioneers of modern ceramic art,” says Jason Jacques, principal of his eponymous gallery. “They paved the way for the ascension of ceramics, and its uncontested place in contemporary art.”
Behind the Curtain reveals the diverse formal potential of the ceramic medium in this tour de force exhibition. Abstract and representational motifs, innovative developments, and the impact of the overall whole inform the curatorial approach to this exhibition.
“As the Jason Jacques business approaches its 30th anniversary later this year, we inaugurate our celebration of visionary designs and techniques in ceramic art from the beginning of the last century,” says Jason T. Busch, director of the gallery. “This important period of production - the foundation of the gallery’s collection - is when European artists began to boldly experiment with glazes and forms with amazing success.”
