Thomas Schütte ”Regal (12 Ceramic Sketches)”. 1998/99

Iron shelving unit with 12 glazed ceramic pieces. 230 × 230 × 56 cm (90 ½ × 90 ½ × 22 in.). One ceramic piece dated on the long side: 1999. Eight ceramic pieces bearing date stamps from 1998 and 1999. Unique work. [3189], Iron shelving unit with 12 glazed ceramic pieces. 230 × 230 × 56 cm (90 ½ × 90 ½ × 22 in.). One ceramic piece dated on the long side: 1999. Eight ceramic pieces bearing date stamps from 1998 and 1999. Unique work. [3189], Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia (acquired in 2004 from Galleria Tucci Russo, Studio per l’Arte Contemporanea, Torre Pellice, Italy), Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia (acquired in 2004 from Galleria Tucci Russo, Studio per l’Arte Contemporanea, Torre Pellice, Italy), Thomas Schütte – Neue Arbeiten. Torre Pellice, Italy, Galleria Tucci Russo, Studio per l’Arte Contemporanea, 2004 / YES, YES, YES, YES. Leverkusen, Museum Morsbroich, 2005/06 / Rockers Island. Essen, Museum Folkwang, 2007, Creation in Series: Thomas Schütte and His Ceramic Sketches“ For every large woman on a steel table, there is also a smaller model, which, unlike the wax figures of the “Geister” (Ghosts), is made of ceramic,” Thomas Schütte explained in a 2013 interview with Theodora Vischer. “Each measures twenty by thirty centimetres, the size of a standard block of clay as it comes packaged. I would sit in Niels Dietrich’s workshop, and every hour he would place a little board with clay on it in front of me. I had one hour to model a figure from it.” Asked, “Why only one hour?”, the artist replied: “That was the challenge. I made five, six, seven pieces a day; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been worthwhile. Each was an exploration of form. I would model for 45 minutes or an hour and then take a break for coffee and cigarettes” (Thomas Schütte. Figur, exh. cat., Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, 2013/14, p. 96). This matter-of-fact, almost dispassionate account of the serial production of the ceramics is typical of Schütte. Yet it stands in striking and wonderful contrast to these extraordinary Ceramic Sketches, a group of 120 unique works created over a period of nine months, which reveal an exuberant imagination. The conditions in Niels Dietrich’s Cologne ceramics workshop, which allow for an efficient working process, and the pliability of the clay when moist suit the artist particularly well. The material yields readily to his hands, inviting us to imagine that we can discern the artist’s moods in its expressive forms and gestures. We recognise female figures alongside a range of amorphous and anthropomorphic beings, which Schütte modelled directly onto the pre-formed, standardised clay slabs before glazing and firing them. Unlike the artist’s other sculptural works, these pieces have no titles, no allegorical interpretations and no mythological references. Another distinctive feature is the glaze, which was applied not to the fired clay, as is customary, but to the clay after it had dried. During firing, the glaze therefore shrinks along with the clay, producing a particularly compelling and animated surface. This exploratory, broadly unconstrained engagement with form and material was initially an end in itself. The ceramics are not bozzetti or preparatory models for the large “Frauen” (Women) in bronze, aluminium and steel that Schütte began creating in the late 1990s, each displayed on a steel table of identical dimensions. Nevertheless, the artist later selected individual small sculptures to develop into larger, more voluminous figures. To date, 18 sculptures have emerged from these serial studies. Alongside recognisable female forms, modelled in crouching, splayed or reclining positions, the group includes abstract shapes that invite a range of associations. A large black-lacquered iron shelving unit provides a unifying element for their presentation. The Ceramic Sketches have been displayed in this way since their first exhibition at the Dia Art Foundation in 1999/2000. For Schütte, this presentation appears to underscore the coherence of an autonomous body of work. The artist has repeatedly emphasised that working with his hands and modelling in clay allows him to “understand shifts better”, referring to the changes that can be observed throughout his oeuvre on aesthetic, iconographic, functional and technical levels. Schütte’s “Schaulager”, comprising 12 ceramics from the series of 120 Ceramic Sketches, thus offers an insight into the formal richness and originality of an oeuvre that has made a significant contribution to the development of sculpture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. MvL

Estimate:£167,190

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