Events
In Conversation
FT Weekend Festival 2021
Edmund de Waal and Jan Dalley
Saturday, September 4, 2021, 11–11:45am
Kenwood House, London
ftweekend.live.ft.com
As part of this year’s FT Weekend Festival in London, Edmund de Waal will be in conversation with Financial Times art editor Jan Dalley on the Arts Stage to discuss his latest book, Letters to Camondo, and his placing of his contemporary work in dialogue with another era.
Gagosian is partnering with the Financial Times to host the Arts Stage at the one-day event where leading experts discuss the arts, music, literature, food, business, and technology. Recent Gagosian Quarterly films will be screened between sessions on the stage throughout the day and Gagosian publications will also be presented. To attend the event, purchase tickets at www.ftweekendfestival.com.
Edmund de Waal and Jan Dalley, FT Weekend Festival, London, 2019
In Conversation
The Thinking Hand
Edmund de Waal and Richard Calvocoressi
Wednesday, June 30, 2021, 8am EDT (1pm BDT)
Edmund de Waal will speak with Gagosian director Richard Calvocoressi in a conversation entitled “The Thinking Hand,” on the occasion of the exhibition The Human Touch at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, England. Sitting in front of a large painting of a hand by Georg Baselitz, the final work in the exhibition, they will explore the creativity of the artist’s hands and the marks and traces they leave, beginning by discussing Calvocoressi’s monograph on Baselitz, published by Thames and Hudson in May 2021. The pair will revisit their conversation entitled “The Possibility of Touch,” published in the catalogue for the 2015 exhibition Henry Moore: Wunderkammer—Origin of Forms at Gagosian, London, curated by Calvocoressi, formerly director of the Henry Moore Foundation. De Waal has also been exploring the role of touch and the iconography of the hand in Henry Moore’s art in This Living Hand, an exhibition he curated at the Henry Moore Studios and Gardens, Perry Green, England, on view through October 31, 2021. To attend the online event, register at tickets.museums.cam.ac.uk.
Left: Edmund de Waal. Photo: Tom Jamieson. Right: Richard Calvocoressi. Photo: Miriam Perez
In Conversation
Edmund de Waal
Adam Gopnik
Thursday, May 20, 2021, 6:30pm EDT
Join the Jewish Museum, New York, for a conversation between Edmund de Waal and author Adam Gopnik to celebrate the US launch of de Waal’s new book Letters to Camondo. The pair will discuss the book’s themes, including assimilation, art, and the essence of memory. Letters to Camondo consists of a series of haunting letters de Waal wrote to Count Moïse de Camondo—the owner of a Parisian palace turned into a memorial for his son lost in the First World War, now known as the Musée Nissim de Camondo. The Camondo family lived in Paris a few doors away from de Waal’s forebears, the Ephrussis. Both families were collectors and part of belle epoque society; both were also targets of anti-Semitism. To attend the event, register at thejewishmuseum.org.
Edmund de Waal: Letters to Camondo (London: Penguin Random House, 2021)
In Conversation
Edmund de Waal
Olivier Gabet
Tuesday, April 20, 2021, 2pm EDT
Edmund de Waal will speak with Olivier Gabet, director of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris, about the themes explored in his new book, Letters to Camondo—to be released in the United Kingdom on April 22—including assimilation, art, and the essence of memory. The book consists of a series of haunting letters de Waal wrote to Count Moïse de Camondo—the owner of a Parisian palace turned into a memorial for his son lost in the First World War, now known as the Musée Nissim de Camondo. The Camondo family lived in Paris a few doors away from de Waal’s forebears, the Ephrussis. Both families were collectors and part of belle epoque society; both were also targets of anti-Semitism. To attend the event, purchase tickets at www.vam.ac.uk.
Edmund de Waal. Photo: Tom Jamieson
Performance
A space to be
A musical celebration of Edmund de Waal’s “library of exile”
Friday, January 29, 2021, 1–2:30pm EST (6–7:30pm GMT)
Join musician, composer, and television presenter Soumik Datta for an evening of performances to mark the closing of Edmund de Waal’s installation library of exile at the British Museum in London, before the books move to their permanent home at the University of Mosul in Iraq. The event will feature original musical responses to the work by Datta, singer-songwriter Amahla, UK-born rubab virtuoso Shaphwat Simab, and Tasmanian-British saxophonist Yasmin Ogilvie, as well as readings by de Waal and other acclaimed guest writers. To watch the live event, visit the British Museum’s YouTube channel.
Edmund de Waal, library of exile, 2019–20, installation view, British Museum, London, 2020–21 © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Hélène Binet
In Conversation
Edmund de Waal
Sally Mann
Friday, November 8, 2019, 6:30–7:30pm
Frick Collection, New York
www.frick.org
In conjunction with the exhibition Elective Affinities: Edmund de Waal at the Frick Collection, artist and writer Edmund de Waal will speak with Sally Mann about art and writing, and about the pair’s individual practices. The event has reached capacity. To join the wait list, RSVP to edevents@frick.org.
Installation view, Elective Affinities: Edmund de Waal at the Frick Collection, Frick Collection, New York, May 30–November 17, 2019. Artwork © Edmund de Waal
Announcements
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
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
On View
This Living Hand
Edmund de Waal Presents Henry Moore
Through 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
On View
Edmund de Waal
Lettres à Camondo
Through 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 will present new installations made especially for the museum’s rooms and collections, which have remained unaltered since 1936.
Entrance hall of the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris. Photo: Jean-Marie del Moral © MAD Paris
Closed
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
Closed
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
Closed
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
Closed
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
Closed
Edmund de Waal
breath
February 20–May 11, 2019
Ivorypress, Madrid
www.ivorypress.com
Breath is an invitation for Edmund de Waal to work across Ivorypress’s three different spaces: the publishing house, the exhibition space, and the bookshop. At the heart of this project is an artist’s book, published by Ivorypress. To accompany the volume, de Waal has made a series of seventeen new works; alongside these is a reading room, housing a selection of one hundred books, inviting visitors to sit down and read.
Edmund de Waal, your name, 2018 (detail) © Edmund de Waal
Closed
Edmund de Waal
–one way or other–
September 15, 2018–January 6, 2019
Schindler House, Los Angeles
makcenter.org
Edmund de Waal’s first architectural intervention in America is being held at the Schindler House: a landmark of West Coast modernism, built in 1922 in West Hollywood by Viennese émigré architect Rudolph Schindler. The exhibition includes recent works that respond directly to the materials and spaces of the house, and a sound piece conceived with the composer Simon Fisher Turner.
Edmund de Waal, –one way or other–, 2018 (detail) © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Mike Bruce
Closed
Edmund de Waal
white island
June 8–September 16, 2018
Museu d’Art Contemporani d’Eivissa, Ibiza, Spain
www.eivissa.es
Edmund de Waal’s first exhibition in Spain will include existing works as well as new pieces that de Waal made with Ibiza, also known as “the White Island,” in mind.
Edmund de Waal, white island, II, 2018 © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Mike Bruce
Closed
Edmund de Waal
Giorgio Morandi
April 7–October 1, 2017
Artipelag, Gustavsberg, Sweden
artipelag.se
In this exhibition, contemporary British ceramicist and author Edmund de Waal meets renowned Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, whose oeuvre largely consists of sensual still-life paintings of pottery. However, it’s not ceramics that unites these two artists but rather the encouragement of mindful viewing and contemplation. Bo Nilsson has curated the exhibition in collaboration with de Waal.
Installation view, Edmund de Waal/Giorgio Morandi, 2017. Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo by Jean-Baptiste Béranger
Closed
Edmund de Waal
Lettres de Londres
January 20–April 15, 2017
Espace Muraille, Geneva
www.espacemuraille.com
A series of new works by Edmund de Waal, inspired by the writings of Voltaire.
Edmund de Waal, in C, 2015. Photo by Mike Bruce