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This exhibition is an initiative on the part of the City of Limoges – whose very name has in many countries come to be synonymous with porcelain –which wanted to organise an exhibition to highlight the production expertise of the nine European ceramic centres which it has chosen as part of the ambitious project known as UNIC (Urban Network for Innovation in Ceramics): Limoges (France), Delft (Netherlands), Stoke-on-Trent (England), Selb (Germany), Castellon (Spain), Seville (Spain), Aveiro (Portugal), Pecs (Hungary), Faenza (Italy), Cluj Napoca ( Roumanie).
Limoges has been a capital of the arts of fire for more than 1,000 years: medieval champleve enamels on copper and painted enamels from the Renaissance. For more than 250 years, the city of Limoges acquired an international reputation thanks to the know-how of the porcelain makers. Well-known also as ”white gold”, Limoges porcelain still decorates the most prestigious tables around the world; Heads of State and embassies appreciate this refined tableware. It can also adapt itself by seducing more humble amateurs and by settling in bourgeois or working-class residences, sensitive to the alliance of tradition and modernity.
By highlighting the technical advances and the major artistic trends which have influenced the history of these different centres from their inception up until today, this event will be a tribute to the quality and the energy of the ceramic tradition in Europe as well as the richness of the heritage that has been preserved by the cultural institutions of each one of these towns.
Designed to appeal to a very wide audience, the first aim of the exhibition is to offer a clear definition of what the different ceramics such as terra cotta, earthenware, sandstone and porcelain are. It will trace the history of porcelain from its beginnings in the Orient (China, Korea and Japan), recalling the role of Marco Polo in the discovery of this precious substance which was for so long sought after in the West, where it was introduced at the beginning of the 18th century.
Organised chronologically, the presentation will trace the main consecutive aesthetic trends: after baroque and neoclassicism, we take a look at romanticism before moving on to orientalism, the followers of Bernard Palissy and japonisme. Certain techniques mastered during the 19th century, like paste on paste or the rice grain will also be explored as well as the various research carried out by ceramists on coloured enamels, in particular the famous copper reds and the metallic salt induced reflections. For the 20th century there will be a collection of some remarkable items typical of Art nouveau, art deco as well as the 1950s and 1970s. And then finally some design works – currently being made in some of the Limoges factories as part of an international design competition - will also be on show.
The exhibition, which does not aim to cover everything, will bring together some remarkable exhibits, quite as unknown as they are unexpected, as well as ten or so works of art that are masterful in terms of size and in the way that they have been made, dating from the middle of the 19th century.
- Galerie des Hospices / Salle Augustoritum – 6 rue Louis Longequeue – 87 000 Limoges
- General commissioner: Chantal Meslin-Perrier,
- General curator for heritage, director of the national porcelain museum Adrien Dubouché.
- Assistant commissioner: Céline Paul,
- Curator for heritage at the national porcelain museum Adrien Dubouché.
- Publications: paperback catalogue; collective work (anthology) headed by Chantal Meslin-Perrier; 208 pages; 150 colour illustrations; €39 approx : Ed.Rmn.
- Regional press contact National press contact
City of Limoges Partners Rmn
Caroline Fureix Sylvie Poujade
33 (0)5 55 45 60 49 33 (0)1 40 13 62 38
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