Edmund de Waal – författare

**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*

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

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

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