The Ceramic Presence in Modern Art: Selections from the Linda Leonard Schlenger Collection and the Yale University Art Gallery

This lushly illustrated volume is the first comprehensive examination of postwar ceramic sculpture alongside other fine art of the period. The catalogue features more than 80 objects by leading 20th-century ceramicists, including John Mason, Ken Price, Lucie Rie, and Peter Voulkos. Essays consider the art in connection with renowned paintings, sculptures in other media, and works on paper, by artists such as Willem de Kooning, Isamu Noguchi, Mark Rothko, and Ed Ruscha. Juxtaposing ceramics with non-ceramic works, both visually and conceptually, and examining the visual, historical, and theoretical affinities among the objects, the authors demonstrate that the finest ceramics share the formal sophistication of the most celebrated artworks of the postwar period. As ceramics increasingly are recognized as integral to the wider field of contemporary art, this book offers new opportunities for understanding this important medium.