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Events

Roy Lichtenstein display at the Gagosian Shop, New York, 2023. Artwork © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. Photo: Mauricio Zelaya

Visit

Madison Avenue Fall Gallery Walk 2023

Saturday, October 28, 2023, 11am–5pm
New York
madisonavenuebid.org

Join Artnews and the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District on an autumn walk to visit over fifty galleries that line Madison Avenue from East 57th to East 86th Streets. The Gagosian Shop, which offers an exclusive and extensive selection of artist’s books, exhibition catalogues, posters, and prints, is featuring a display dedicated to Roy Lichtenstein and offering a 10% discount on all Gagosian titles and posters. It is also the final day to see to light, and then return—, an exhibition of new works by Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann inspired by each other’s practices, at the 976 Madison Avenue gallery behind the Shop.

Roy Lichtenstein display at the Gagosian Shop, New York, 2023. Artwork © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. Photo: Mauricio Zelaya

Albert Oehlen, Untitled, 2022 © Albert Oehlen

Auction

The Art of Wishes 2023

Monday, October 9, 2023
Raffles Hotel, London
www.artofwishes.org.uk

Founded by philanthropist and Make‐A‐Wish patron Batia Ofer, the Art of Wishes is a charitable initiative that brings the international art community together to raise funds for Make-A-Wish UK, a nonprofit organization that grants the wishes of children with critical illnesses. The sixth annual Art of Wishes benefit auction and gala will take place at Raffles Hotel in London. The auction will be hosted on Artsy, with a preview of the artworks open to the public from October 4 through 7 at Christie’s London. Twelve works by leading international artists such as Edmund de Waal, Jadé Fadojutimi, Albert Oehlen, Stanley Whitney, and others will be included.

Albert Oehlen, Untitled, 2022 © Albert Oehlen

Left: Elisa Gonzalez. Middle: Terrance Hayes. Right: Jonathan Galassi

Reading and Talk

Elisa Gonzalez and Terrance Hayes
Moderated by Jonathan Galassi

Friday, October 20, 2023, 6pm
Gagosian, 976 Madison Avenue, New York

Join Gagosian for an evening of poetry inside to light, and then return—, an exhibition of new works by Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann, inspired by each other’s practices, at Gagosian, New York. Taking the artists’ shared love of poetry, fragments, and metamorphosis as a point of departure, poets Elisa Gonzalez and Terrance Hayes will share a selection of their recent works that resonate with the themes of elegy and historical reckoning that are explored in the show. Jonathan Galassi, chairman and executive editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, will also read from The FSG Poetry Anthology, a collection of work by more than 125 poets published on the occasion of the publisher’s seventy-fifth anniversary. Following the readings, Gonzalez and Hayes will discuss poetry’s enduring magnetism and its ability to foster dialogue in a conversation moderated by Galassi.

Register

Left: Elisa Gonzalez. Middle: Terrance Hayes. Right: Jonathan Galassi

Edmund de Waal. Photo: Tom Jamieson

Reading and Book Signing

Edmund de Waal

Tuesday, December 13, 2022, 7pm
Burlington Arcade, London

Join Gagosian for an evening with Edmund de Waal in celebration of de Waal +, his takeover of the Gagosian Shop in Burlington Arcade. The artist will give a short reading and then sign copies of his books, which will be available to purchase at the event. Composer Simon Fisher Turner, de Waal’s friend and collaborator, will be signing a limited number of copies of A Quiet Corner in Time, the 2020 album that marked the first time de Waal worked closely with a musician.

Register

Edmund de Waal. Photo: Tom Jamieson

Photo: courtesy International Catalogue Raisonné Association

Talk

ICRA Annual Conference 2022
Legacy: The Artist’s View

Thursday, December 1, 2022, 9:30am
Cromwell Place, London
icra.art

The International Catalogue Raisonné Association conference will give artists, their families, and catalogue raisonné authors space to articulate their thoughts on the theme of legacy. Engaging with the question of posterity, the conference asks how a family’s closeness to the artist can be both a blessing and a challenge, and thinks about ways in which later generations as well as nonfamily members can address issues surrounding an artist’s continued relevance. Edmund de Waal will be the keynote speaker and Michael Craig-Martin and Rachel Whiteread will contribute to the conference as well. The in-person and online event will include a question-and-answer session.

Purchase Tickets

Photo: courtesy International Catalogue Raisonné Association

Edmund de Waal, clogged only with music like the wheels of birds, I, 2022 © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Alzbeta Jaresova

Shop Takeover

Edmund de Waal

November 8–December 23, 2022
Gagosian Shop, London

Edmund de Waal is taking over the Gagosian Shop in London’s historic Burlington Arcade with de Waal +, which brings together recent artworks, treasured objects, and a selection of books curated by the artist.

“I’ve always wanted to take over a bookshop,” de Waal remarks. “I’ve filled it with books, of course. And music and photography, pamphlets recording projects created over the last decade, writing on artists I adore and poetry that sustains me, collaborations with dancers and composers, editions I have made for the British Art Medal Society and for the Victoria & Albert Museum. And I’ve added some pots that I have just made.”

In his interlinked sculptural, writing, and research practices, de Waal studies and utilizes objects as vehicles for human emotion and history. His installations of handmade porcelain vessels, often contained in minimalist structures, investigate themes of diaspora, memory, and materiality

In addition to working across mediums, de Waal has also collaborated with museums, poets, performers, musicians, and other artists. Offering viewers a glimpse of his varied interests and inspirations, de Waal says, I hope you come and find a corner to sit and read.”

Edmund de Waal, clogged only with music like the wheels of birds, I, 2022 © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Alzbeta Jaresova

See all Events for Edmund de Waal

Announcements

Photo: Tom Jamieson

Honor

Edmund de Waal
Isamu Noguchi Award 2023

Edmund de Waal has been selected to receive the Isamu Noguchi Award for his contribution as both a writer and artist. Established in 2014 and presented annually, the award perpetuates Noguchi’s legacy by acknowledging highly accomplished individuals who share his spirit of innovation, unbounded imagination, and uncompromising commitment to creativity. Honoring those whose work exhibits qualities of artistic excellence, the award also recognizes work that carries significant social consciousness and function. De Waal will receive the award during the annual benefit gala at the Noguchi Museum, New York, in September 2023.

Photo: Tom Jamieson

Edmund de Waal’s studio, London, 2014. Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Hélène Binet

Playlist

Edmund de Waal
In the Studio

On the occasion of his Artist Spotlight, Edmund de Waal has created a playlist of music he listens to in his studio. Ranging in genre from contemporary classical to rock, electronic, and African folk, the selection features composers and musicians such as Philip Glass, Talking Heads, LCD Soundsystem, and Michael Kiwanuka. The twenty-three tracks are synthy, expansive, rhythmically hypnotic, or just generally dreamy—sharing a meditative quality with de Waal’s visual artwork.

Listen Now

Edmund de Waal’s studio, London, 2014. Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Hélène Binet

Still from “Edmund de Waal Introduces ‘Letters to Camondo’”

Video

Edmund de Waal Introduces “Letters to Camondo”

In this video, Edmund de Waal introduces his new book, Letters to Camondo (2021). The book consists of a sequence of haunting imaginary letters from de Waal to Count Moïse de Camondo, the owner of a Parisian palace turned into a memorial for his son, who died in World War I. The Camondo family lived a few doors away from de Waal’s forebears, the Ephrussis. Both families were collectors and part of Belle Époque Parisian high society. Both were also targets of antisemitism. De Waal describes the particular resonance of this home, now the Musée Nissim de Camondo, as a “house for a lost family” and discusses his need to write this story.

Still from “Edmund de Waal Introduces ‘Letters to Camondo’”

Edmund de Waal, Der Hase mit den Bernsteinaugen (Vienna: echo media buchverlag | echo medienhaus ges.m.b.h., 2021)

Initiative

Edmund de Waal: The Hare with Amber Eyes
Eine STADT. Ein BUCH.

In November 2021, 100,000 copies of Der Hase mit den Bernsteinaugen, the German edition of Edmund de Waal’s family memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010), will be given away across Vienna as part of Eine STADT. Ein BUCH (One City. One Book). The initiative, where one book is selected, printed, and distributed for free, began in 2002 and takes place in Vienna every year.

Edmund de Waal, Der Hase mit den Bernsteinaugen (Vienna: echo media buchverlag | echo medienhaus ges.m.b.h., 2021)

Edmund de Waal. Photo: Tom Jamieson

Honor

Edmund de Waal

Edmund de Waal was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in Queen Elizabeth II’s 2021 birthday honors list for his service to the arts as a potter and a writer. The title CBE is bestowed to individuals who have made distinct and innovative contributions to the United Kingdom.

Edmund de Waal. Photo: Tom Jamieson

Photo: Ben McKee

Award

Edmund de Waal

Edmund de Waal will receive the Max and Trude Berger Award from the Jewish Museum Vienna on November 6, 2018. De Waal generously supported the museum by donating the Ephrussi family archive and netsuke collection to the institution earlier this year.

Photo: Ben McKee

Museum Exhibitions

Edmund de Waal, the burning now, 2023, installation view, CLAY Keramikmuseum Danmark, Middelfart, Denmark © Edmund de Waal

On View

Playing with Fire
Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto

Through August 11, 2024
CLAY Keramikmuseum Danmark, Middelfart, Denmark
claymuseum.dk

Playing with Fire is an exhibition of work by the acclaimed Danish ceramist Axel Salto (1889–1961), curated by Edmund de Waal. Considered one of the greatest masters of twentieth-century ceramic art, Salto is renowned for his highly individual and expressive stoneware inspired by organic forms. A significant number of Salto’s ceramic works from the collection of CLAY Keramikmuseum Danmark and the Tangen Collection at Kunstsilo in Kristiansand, Norway, are shown alongside lesser-known and previously unseen works on paper, illustrations, writings, and textiles. A major new installation by de Waal reflects on Salto’s enduring influence.

Edmund de Waal, the burning now, 2023, installation view, CLAY Keramikmuseum Danmark, Middelfart, Denmark © Edmund de Waal

Edmund de Waal, five stone wind (for John Cage), 2023 © Edmund de Waal

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RA Summer Exhibition 2023

June 13–August 20, 2023
Royal Academy of Arts, London
www.royalacademy.org.uk

Held annually since 1769, the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition is the world’s largest open-submission art show. It brings together art across all mediums—print, painting, film, photography, sculpture, architecture, and more—with some 1,600 works on display, many for the first time. Work by Georg Baselitz, Michael Craig-Martin, and Edmund de Waal is included.

Edmund de Waal, five stone wind (for John Cage), 2023 © Edmund de Waal

Edmund de Waal, atmosphere, 2014, installation view, Turner Contemporary, Margate, England © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Mike Bruce

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Edmund de Waal in
Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art

October 26, 2022–January 8, 2023
Hayward Gallery, London
www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Strange Clay is the first large-scale group exhibition in the United Kingdom to explore how contemporary artists have used clay in unexpected ways. The artworks, by twenty-three artists working across recent decades, range from small abstract works to large-scale installations, vary in finish and technique, and address topics including architecture, social justice, the body, the domestic, and the organic. Work by Edmund de Waal is included.

Edmund de Waal, atmosphere, 2014, installation view, Turner Contemporary, Margate, England © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, the night office, 2022, installation view, Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, England © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Chris Lacey

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Edmund de Waal
we live here, forever taking leave

June 15–October 23, 2022
Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, England
waddesdon.org.uk

This exhibition showcases new and celebrated works in porcelain by Edmund de Waal. Powerfully thoughtful, the installations explore the interconnected relations between faith, history, displacement, learning, and archives—themes that feel more relevant than ever and that are woven into Waddesdon Manor’s own fabric and existence.

Edmund de Waal, the night office, 2022, installation view, Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, England © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Chris Lacey

Edmund de Waal, muet I, II, and III, all 2021, installation view, Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Christophe Dellière © MAD, Paris

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Edmund de Waal
Lettres à Camondo

October 7, 2021–May 15, 2022
Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris
madparis.fr

This exhibition, titled in French after Edmund de Waal’s recently published book Letters to Camondo, is designed as an intimate dialogue between de Waal’s works and the historic furnishings held in the Musée Nissim de Camondo, former residence of Count Moïse de Camondo, whose family’s tragic history is recounted in de Waal’s epistolary novel. De Waal presents new installations made especially for the museum’s rooms and collections, which have remained unaltered since 1936.

Edmund de Waal, muet I, II, and III, all 2021, installation view, Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Christophe Dellière © MAD, Paris

Installation view, The Hare with Amber Eyes, Jewish Museum, New York, November 19, 2021–May 15, 2022. Photo: Iwan Baan

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The Hare with Amber Eyes

November 19, 2021–May 15, 2022
Jewish Museum, New York
thejewishmuseum.org

The Hare with Amber Eyes tells the story of the Ephrussi family, celebrated in the best-selling memoir of the same name by Edmund de Waal, and showcases the breadth and depth of their illustrious collection. The exhibition explores the family’s rise to prominence and splendor in the first half of the nineteenth century, the life of the prolific collector and historian of art Charles Ephrussi (1849–1905), the interwar years, and finally World War II, when the family lost its fortune and collection to Nazi looting.

Installation view, The Hare with Amber Eyes, Jewish Museum, New York, November 19, 2021–May 15, 2022. Photo: Iwan Baan

Installation view, This Living Hand: Edmund de Waal Presents Henry Moore, Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, Perry Green, England, May 19–October 31, 2021. Artwork, left and right: © Edmund de Waal; center left and center right: reproduced by permission of the Henry Moore Foundation. Photo: Alzbeta Jaresova

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This Living Hand
Edmund de Waal Presents Henry Moore

May 19–October 31, 2021
Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, Perry Green, England
www.henry-moore.org

Curated by Edmund de Waal, this exhibition explores the role of touch and the iconography of the hand in Henry Moore’s art. Moore believed that “tactile experience is very important as an aesthetic dimension in sculpture.” Original carved benches by de Waal, as well as a group of Moore’s drawings and sculptural works charting his interest in the hand as a subject, are included.

Installation view, This Living Hand: Edmund de Waal Presents Henry Moore, Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, Perry Green, England, May 19–October 31, 2021. Artwork, left and right: © Edmund de Waal; center left and center right: reproduced by permission of the Henry Moore Foundation. Photo: Alzbeta Jaresova

Edmund de Waal, sukkah, 2019, installation view, Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, England © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Alzbeta Jaresova

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Edmund de Waal
sukkah

March 2021
Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, England
www.canterbury-cathedral.org

Edmund de Waal’s sukkah (2019), originally created for a synagogue in the Venetian Ghetto as part of his installation psalm, is currently on loan to Canterbury Cathedral. Sukkot, the Feast of the Tabernacles, is the festival that commemorates the forty years of wandering in the desert. The work comprises nine towers that appear to float above a table, each tower containing tall white porcelain vessels and leaning pieces of gilded steel that catch the light from the medieval stained-glass windows.

Edmund de Waal, sukkah, 2019, installation view, Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, England © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Alzbeta Jaresova

Edmund de Waal, library of exile, 2019–20, installation view, Ateneo Veneto, Venice © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Fulvio Orsenigo

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Edmund de Waal
library of exile

August 27, 2020–January 12, 2021
British Museum, London
www.britishmuseum.org

Edmund de Waal has constructed a small library that houses two thousand books written by exiled authors from Ovid’s time to the present day. The external walls of the library are inscribed with a new text piece listing the lost and erased libraries of the world. Inside, embedded in the bookshelves, is a quartet of de Waal’s large-scale vitrines, containing porcelain vessels and page-like brackets of steel. This exhibition originated at the Ateneo Veneto in Venice.

To learn more watch de Waal speak about the project in a Gagosian Quarterly video.

Edmund de Waal, library of exile, 2019–20, installation view, Ateneo Veneto, Venice © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Fulvio Orsenigo

Edmund de Waal, library of exile, 2019, installation view, Edmund de Waal: psalm, Ateneo Veneto, Venice. Artwork © Edmund de Waal

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Edmund de Waal
library of exile

November 30, 2019–February 16, 2020
Japanisches Palais, Dresden, Germany
japanisches-palais.skd.museum

Edmund de Waal has constructed a small library that houses two thousand books written by exiled authors from Ovid’s time to the present day. The external walls of the library are inscribed with a new text piece listing the lost and erased libraries of the world. Inside, embedded in the bookshelves, is a quartet of de Waal’s large-scale vitrines, containing porcelain vessels and page-like brackets of steel. This exhibition has traveled from the Ateneo Veneto in Venice.

To learn more watch de Waal speak about the project in a Gagosian Quarterly video.

Edmund de Waal, library of exile, 2019, installation view, Edmund de Waal: psalm, Ateneo Veneto, Venice. Artwork © Edmund de Waal

Installation view, Elective Affinities: Edmund de Waal at the Frick Collection, Frick Collection, New York, May 30–November 17, 2019. Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Christopher Burke

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Elective Affinities
Edmund de Waal at the Frick Collection

May 30–November 17, 2019
Frick Collection, New York
www.frick.org

The Frick Collection presents an installation of Edmund de Waal’s site-specific works made of porcelain, steel, gold, marble, and glass that are displayed alongside works from the permanent collection.

Installation view, Elective Affinities: Edmund de Waal at the Frick Collection, Frick Collection, New York, May 30–November 17, 2019. Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Christopher Burke

Edmund de Waal, tehillim, 2019 (detail) © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Mike Bruce

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Edmund de Waal
psalm

May 8–September 29, 2019
Museo Ebraico and Ateneo Veneto, Venice
www.edmunddewaal.com

Edmund de Waal: psalm is a two-part exhibition in Venice. The first part takes place at the Scuola Canton, a sixteenth-century synagogue under the aegis of Museo Ebraico, and includes new installations of porcelain, marble, and gold that reflect the literary and musical heritage of the place. The second part is at the Ateneo Veneto, where Edmund de Waal has constructed a small library within the main space that houses two thousand books written by exiled authors from Ovid’s time to the present day.

Edmund de Waal, tehillim, 2019 (detail) © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Mike Bruce

See all Museum Exhibitions for Edmund de Waal