Edmund de Waal – författare

From the author of the bestselling phenomenon The Hare with Amber EyesAs you may have guessed by now, I am not in your house by accident. I know your street rather well.The Camondos lived just a few doors away from Edmund de Waal's forebears. Like de Waal's family, they were part of belle époque high society. They were also targets of anti-Semitism.Count Moïse de Camondo created a spectacular house filled with art for his son to inherit. Over a century later, de Waal explores the lavish rooms and detailed archives and, in a haunting series of letters addressed to Camondo, he tells us what happened next.'Illuminating... A wonderful tribute to a family and to an idea' Guardian'Letters to Camondo immerses you in another age... Dazzling' Financial Times

**WINNER OF THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD**Edmund de Waal uncovers the history of a family through a turbulent century through 264 objects.264 wood and ivory carvings, none of them bigger than a matchbox: Edmund de Waal was entranced when he first encountered the collection in his great uncle Iggie's Tokyo apartment. When he later inherited the 'netsuke', they unlocked a story far larger and more dramatic than he could ever have imagined.From a burgeoning empire in Odessa to fin de siecle Paris, from occupied Vienna to Tokyo, Edmund de Waal traces the netsuke's journey through generations of his remarkable family against the backdrop of a tumultuous century.'You have in your hands a masterpiece' Sunday Times'The most brilliant book I've read for years... A rich tale of the pleasure and pains of what it is to be human' Daily Telegraph**ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY*

The gripping story of the lure of porcelain, or 'white gold', from the Number One bestselling author of The Hare with Amber Eyes.** A Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller **"Other things in the world are white but for me porcelain comes first"A handful of clay from a Chinese hillside carries a promise: that mixed with the right materials, it might survive the fire of the kiln, and fuse into porcelain - translucent, luminous, white.Acclaimed writer and potter Edmund de Waal sets out on a quest - a journey that begins in the dusty city of Jingdezhen in China and travels on to Venice, Versailles, Dublin, Dresden, the Appalachian Mountains of South Carolina and the hills of Cornwall to tell the history of porcelain. Along the way, he meets the witnesses to its creation; those who were inspired, made rich or heartsick by it, and the many whose livelihoods, minds and bodies were broken by this obsession. It spans a thousand years and reaches into some of the most tragic moments of recent times.In these intimate and compelling encounters with the people and landscapes who made porcelain, Edmund de Waal enriches his understanding of this rare material, the 'white gold' he has worked with for decades.'This is a haunting book, a book that amasses itself piece by piece, gaining in weight.' Olivia Laing, New Statesman'A mighty achievement' Guardian

Guidance for a creative life from the international bestselling author of THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES and LETTERS TO CAMONDOA book about finding a creative voice and becoming an artist via a scintillating new discovery in Edmund de Waal's family archives - letters between his grandmother and the great poet Rainer Maria Rilke** With letters translated from the German by prizewinning translator, Karen Leeder **Edmund de Waal's grandmother, Elisabeth Ephrussi, aspired to be a poet as a young woman. While studying for a law degree in 1920s Vienna, she entered into a short but dramatic correspondence with the great German-language poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, in which he mentored her writing - and gave her advice on how to balance the demands of creativity with the need for work. When, decades later, Edmund started to write himself, his grandmother read his poetry and in turn took on the role of mentor...This is an inspiring book about the challenges of setting out on a creative life as a young person, and the solaces that come from having a mentor and friend. And, ultimately, it is about the moment when an artist must leave their mentor behind and discover their own voice.

Documenting an extraordinary range and variety of ceramics spanning more than 30,000 years, this updated edition of The Pot Book surveys mankind’s fascinating exploration of this inexhaustible vesselThe history of ceramic art is ingrained in the history of mankind. Clay is one of the very first materials ‘invented’ by man. An essential part of our lives, it has been moulded, thrown, glazed, decorated and fired for over 30,000 years in order to preserve and transport food and water. And it was on the surface of these early jugs, vases, dishes, plates, beakers and amphorae that man placed some of his first decorative markings. In more recent times, clay has been used not just by artisans and potters, but also by artists, designers and architects.The Pot Book is the first publication to document the extraordinary range and variety of ceramic vessels of all periods, from a delicate bowl made by an unnamed artisan in China in the third millennium bc, or a jug made in eighteenth-century Dresden, to a plate made by Picasso in 1952, a ‘spade form’ made by Hans Coper or the vases of Grayson Perry today.Now with a generous selection of new and updated entries, each chosen to ensure a diverse spread of well-known and previously underrepresented artists, the book is sequenced in alphabetical order by the name of the artist/potter, the school, or style, creating a grand tour through the very finest examples of the art form.

An intimate look at Ben Nicholson's everyday inspirationsThroughout his career, Ben Nicholson (1894–1982) transformed everyday homewares into extraordinary experiments in abstract art. Nicholson’s studio was filled with objects that inspired him. From patterned mocha-ware jugs and cut glass goblets to spanners, hammers and chisels, these ordinary personal possessions were a source of almost endless inspiration to the artist. This book brings together for the first time Nicholson’s paintings, reliefs, prints and drawings alongside his rarely seen personal possessions and studio tools. It traces how the artist’s style developed, from his early traditional tabletop still lifes to his later abstract works. Still life was at the heart of Nicholson’s artistic practice. Through these humble items, he began to experiment with form and color. His early works in particular owed inspiration to his father, the painter William Nicholson. The book traces the artistic and personal influences on Nicholson’s evolutionary still life style from the 1920s to the 1970s. It explores his time with Winifred Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, as well as his encounters with other Modernist greats, Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian. Distributed for Pallant House Gallery

This third volume in the Frick Diptych series offers fresh insight into a pair of candelabra that represent the pinnacle of luxury and taste in the years prior to the French Revolution. Vignon tells the fascinating story of these objects that are made of two small white vases with extraordinary gilt-bronze mounts by Pierre Gouthière, the celebrated eighteenth-century French chaser and gilder. Vignon's essay is paired with a text by De Waal in which he examines what it is to make, own, and desire such complex objects

A meditation on migration, exile and memory: de Waal’s poetic installations of porcelain vessels and shards enter into conversation with an iconic Los Angeles cultural center Published with The Huntington.British artist and writer Edmund de Waal (born 1964) is known for installing exquisite porcelain vessels in historic spaces. At The Huntington in Los Angeles, his interventions and artworks explore the movement of ideas, people and objects—what Chinese poet Bei Dao calls the “eight directions of the wind.” In this volume, de Waal writes of the interactive and contemplative spaces he has created in The Huntington’s Chinese and Japanese Gardens and The Huntington Art Gallery. Each installation incorporates text, natural materials and recent works by de Waal that create new perspectives and connections among The Huntington’s collecting areas. An in-depth conversation between de Waal and cultural historian Josh Kun offers context for the artist’s interventions, set against Los Angeles’ mix of cultures. To round out the volume, the pair curated a selection of poems on exile that speaks to global histories of migration.