From 8.11.2025 to 4.10.2026, the GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts Leipzig is presenting the exhibition GEFÄSS I SKULPTUR 4. DEUTSCHE UND INTERNATIOALE KERAMIK SEIT 1946 in its Art Deco pillar hall. 320 pieces will be on display, representing a selection of outstanding donations to the museum over the past few years. The exhibition traces artistic developments from 1946 to the present day and allows the ceramic works, their formal power and glaze beauty to enter into aesthetic dialogues - repeatedly exploring the relationship between purpose-built vessel and autonomous sculpture.
The GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts has already dedicated three major and highly acclaimed exhibitions to artistic studio ceramics. It is one of the museum's rapidly growing and internationally renowned collection areas. The show GEFÄSS I SKULPTUR 4 is a distillation of this extensive collection. In addition to an extremely large number of high-quality donations from private collections, it consists in particular of acquisitions made by the museum at its own annual Grassimessen fairs.
In the exhibition, vessels and sculptures literally face each other - not as opposites, however, but in a mutual dialog. The chronological view makes it clear that modern studio ceramics are increasingly eluding their mere usability and experimenting with sculptural independence without losing sight of the "vessel" theme.
The exhibition ranges from post-war vessels to contemporary pieces. It brings together artistic positions from five continents and twenty countries and shows renowned representatives of the international ceramics scene such as Lucie Rie, Hans Coper and Bernard Leach. The exhibition starts with vessels from the late 1940s to the 1960s - for example by Richard Bampi, Jan Bontjes van Beek, Albrecht Hohlt, Otto Meier and Rolf Overberg. They are still committed to the traditional order, but already reveal a sculptural will to design. This is followed by ceramic sculptures from the 1970s and 1980s, such as those by Beate Kuhn, Ernst Häusermann, Robert Sturm and Carmen Dionyse. The arc ultimately ends with vessels by Martin Schlotz, who achieves a special sculptural quality with bubbly glazes, or with Johannes Nagel and Elke Sada, who approach the vessel as a sculptural object in different ways.
A central focus of the show is on ceramics from the region - with pieces by Ute Brade, Walter Gebauer, Gertraud Möhwald or Sybille Abel-Kremer, Rosi Steinbach, Elke Sada and Johannes Nagel, among others. These works are deliberately placed in an all-German and international context.
Accompanying the exhibition
Insights into Beate Kuhn's work process, film documents and works on paper by ceramicists complement the exhibition. The latter in particular demonstrate the holistic nature of artistic ability in the ceramic profession.
GEFÄSS/ SKULPTUR 4 is accompanied by a rich program of events, including guided tours with ceramists such as Sybille Abel-Kremer, Franziska M. Köllner, Lutz Könecke, Johannes Nagel, Elke Sada and Rosi Steinbach.
The GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts has already dedicated three major and highly acclaimed exhibitions to artistic studio ceramics. It is one of the museum's rapidly growing and internationally renowned collection areas. The show GEFÄSS I SKULPTUR 4 is a distillation of this extensive collection. In addition to an extremely large number of high-quality donations from private collections, it consists in particular of acquisitions made by the museum at its own annual Grassimessen fairs.
In the exhibition, vessels and sculptures literally face each other - not as opposites, however, but in a mutual dialog. The chronological view makes it clear that modern studio ceramics are increasingly eluding their mere usability and experimenting with sculptural independence without losing sight of the "vessel" theme.
The exhibition ranges from post-war vessels to contemporary pieces. It brings together artistic positions from five continents and twenty countries and shows renowned representatives of the international ceramics scene such as Lucie Rie, Hans Coper and Bernard Leach. The exhibition starts with vessels from the late 1940s to the 1960s - for example by Richard Bampi, Jan Bontjes van Beek, Albrecht Hohlt, Otto Meier and Rolf Overberg. They are still committed to the traditional order, but already reveal a sculptural will to design. This is followed by ceramic sculptures from the 1970s and 1980s, such as those by Beate Kuhn, Ernst Häusermann, Robert Sturm and Carmen Dionyse. The arc ultimately ends with vessels by Martin Schlotz, who achieves a special sculptural quality with bubbly glazes, or with Johannes Nagel and Elke Sada, who approach the vessel as a sculptural object in different ways.
A central focus of the show is on ceramics from the region - with pieces by Ute Brade, Walter Gebauer, Gertraud Möhwald or Sybille Abel-Kremer, Rosi Steinbach, Elke Sada and Johannes Nagel, among others. These works are deliberately placed in an all-German and international context.
Accompanying the exhibition
Insights into Beate Kuhn's work process, film documents and works on paper by ceramicists complement the exhibition. The latter in particular demonstrate the holistic nature of artistic ability in the ceramic profession.
GEFÄSS/ SKULPTUR 4 is accompanied by a rich program of events, including guided tours with ceramists such as Sybille Abel-Kremer, Franziska M. Köllner, Lutz Könecke, Johannes Nagel, Elke Sada and Rosi Steinbach.
