Artists Drawing a Line Under Torture: Ceramicist Edmund de Waal completes catalogue of 80 lots at Freedom from Torture's art auction
Ceramicist de Waal’s piece You are Here, which comprises of six porcelain vessels with gold on an aluminium shelf and has a guide price of £13,000, completes the catalogue of 80 lots from some of the world’s most prominent contemporary artists. It has been donated to Freedom from Torture courtesy of the artists and Alan Cristea Gallery.
Edmund de Waal is one of the world’s leading ceramic artists and has recently held an exhibition of 22 new works at the Gagosian Gallery in New York. The exhibition, which ended last weekend, was his largest show to date and my first with the gallery. The exhibition title derives from Paul Celan’s 1967 poetry collection Atemwende (‘breathturn’), a term that the poet equates with the moment when words transcend literal meaning.
The artist has had major interventions in many museums and public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Waddesdon Manor, Tate Britain and the National Museum of Wales. Future projects include working with the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Turner Contemporary, Margate, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen and the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna. He is also known as a writer and his recent book, Hare with the Amber Eyes, which traces his family history, has been an international bestseller and won many literary prizes.
