Gerit Grimm: Beyond the Figurine
Gerit Grimm: Beyond the Figurine C ontemporary I nspirations
from the
M useum ’ s C ollection
Long Beach Museum of Art March 15th – July 8th, 2012
Checklist 1. Staffordshire, England Bear Jar, ca. 1760 White Salt-glazed Stoneware 7 ½ x 6 x 9 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.89.a.b
13. Staffordshire, England Tythe pig spill vase, ca. 1820 Earthenware with enamel decoration 8 ½ x 8 x 4 3/8 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.141
2. Staffordshire, England Shepherd and Shepherdess, ca. 1820 Earthenware with enamel decoration 8 ½ x 4 3/8 x 3 ½ inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.95
14. Staffordshire, England White saltglazed lady, ca. 1760 Stoneware 3 3/8 x 2 x 1 1/8 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.140
3. Staffordshire, England Ale-Bench, ca. 1825 Earthenware with enamel decoration 7 x 7 ¼ x 4 ½ inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.115.a
15. Apt, France Cup and saucer, late 18th century - early 19th century Faience 2 ¾ x 3 ¼ inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.23.a.b
4. Staffordshire, England The Hairdresser, ca. 1820 Earthenware with enamel decoration 9 ½ x 6 ½ x 5 ½ inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.116
16. Pont-aux-Choux, Paris or Niderviller, France Figure of a woman with a basket, 18th century Faience 11 ¼ x 4 x 4 inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.35
5. Staffordshire, England Figure of a Female and Male Gardener, ca. 1825 Earthenware with enamel decoration 6 5/8 x 3 x 2 ¾ inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.133.a.b
17. Strasbourg, France Figure of a mother and child, ca. 1775 Faience 6 ½ x 2 ¼ x 2 inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.36
6. Staffordshire, England Rural Group, ca. 1820 Earthenware with enamel decoration 8 ¼ x 3 5/8 x 3 5/8 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.134
18. Apt, France Pitcher, 18th century Faience 7 x 5 7/8 x 4 ½ inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.48
7. Staffordshire, England Figure of a Gardener, ca. 1825 Earthenware with enamel decoration 5 3/8 x 2 ½ x 2 ¼ inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.151
19. Montereau, France Plate with decoration from the Fables of de la Fontaine: Cendrillon, ca. 1820 Faience 1 x 8 ½ inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.57
8. Staffordshire, England Courting Couple, ca. 1820 Earthenware with enamel decoration 8 ¼ x 3 ½ x 4 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.131.a.b
20. Montereau, France Covered sugar bowl, ca. 1820 Faience 4 3/8 x 4 1/8 inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.78.a.b
9. Staffordshire, England The Shoe Salesman, ca. 1820 Earthenware with enamel decoration 9 3/8 x 6 1/8 x 5 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.117
21. Bonnet, Apt, France Tea warmer with stand, early 19th century Faience 12 x 5 inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.89.a.b.c
10. England Yorkshire-type Figural Watch Stand, ca. 1800 Pearlware 8 ¾ x 5 5/8 x 3 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.145
22. Creil, France Set of Ten Plates, 19th century Faience 1 x 8 ½ inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.54.a.b.c.d.e.f.g.h.i.j
11. Staffordshire, England Farmer and Wife, ca. 1825 Earthenware with enamel decoration 9 ¼ x 3 5/8 x 2 ¾ inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.149
23. Montereau, France Eggcup attached to plate, ca. 1825 Faience 3 ½ x 4 ½ inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.31
12. Staffordshire, England New Marriage Act I, ca. 1835 Earthenware with enamel decoration 7 ½ x 4 ½ x 3 1/8 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.158.a
Artist Gerit Grimm was especially inspired by these ceramics in the permanent collection of the Long Beach Museum of Art. The selections are from the Staffordshire Earthenware Collection, Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld; and the Marie Forrest Collection of Continental Earthenware, Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust. Both collections are available online at www.lbma.org. The Dornfeld Collection catalogue is also available for sale in the Museum shop.
Introduction The Long Beach Museum of Art has been a collecting institution for over 60 years, and during that time, the Museum has been the fortunate recipient of many generous gifts of art resulting in a significant permanent collection. Some gifts have come in the form of individual works of art, and others, as complete collections that have been carefully assembled over years by discerning collectors. Featured in this exhibition are contemporary works by ceramic artist Gerit Grimm, who was inspired by the over 100 Staffordshire Earthenware Ceramics from the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld, and, over 90 French faience ceramics from the Marie W. Forrest Trust. The combined collections span over 250 years of ceramic production. Both collections can be seen in their entirety on the Museum’s website, www.lbma.org, thanks to the support of The Institute for Museum and Library Services, The Ahmanson Foundation, The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation, The Dornfeld Family Trust, and the Getty Foundation. A catalogue of the complete Dornfeld collection is also available in the Museum Store. England As a museum accredited by the American Association of Museums, The Staffordshire, Hairdresser, ca. 1820 we are charged with caring for these historic works of art, and, Earthenware with enamel decoration 9 ½ x 6 ½ x 5 ½ inches just as importantly, sharing them with the community Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.116 for the public’s enjoyment and education. Artist Gerit Grimm has given us a fresh opportunity to present ceramic works that embody centuries of historic importance. In the past, these earthenware figures, some dating from the 17th century, were referred to as “toys” or “images” and depicted Old and New Testament Bible stories, socio-political events of their times, and traditional fables. They were purchased and enjoyed by a rising middle class looking for an affordable alternative to European porcelain.
It is significant that the talented and classically trained potter, Gerit Grimm, who has been working in clay since her youth, was drawn to the Museum’s historic ceramics collection. In this exhibition Gerit not only uses historic images and tales derived form the Museum’s collection, she goes on to brilliantly tell the story of how these works were created and when, how they were transported to market, and what was happening in the marketplace at the time of their creation. Gerit is not only creating a history lesson which is there for us to discover, she uses her powerful talent and skill with clay for aesthetic impact, a skill that comes from the hands and vision of an artist who “owns” the material used. For a museum to have the fortune to work with such a talented artist, and give a fresh contemporary interpretation of such rich ceramic history, is a rare event. As a teaching institution, this unique exhibition combining historic and contemporary ceramics will be of value for the students of the Long Beach Unified School District, the faculty and students of colleges, as well as collectors and other institutions from across the southland. It is noteworthy, that Grimm’s creations could not have happened if not for the exemplary ceramic Staffordshire, England The Shoe Salesman, ca. 1820 program at California State University Long Beach. Earthenware with enamel decoration 9 3/8 x 6 1/8 x 5 inches The ceramics program at CSULB, nurtured with Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld inspired vision and years of planning and growth, 2005.117
has attracted and “molded” many of the talented hands and fingers working in clay today. The physical location of Grimm’s unique sculptural constructions has been made possible through the CSULB College of the Arts with which the Museum has a close relationship of mutual discovery and sharing. What began as an invitation for a small curated exhibition and installation by Gerit in response to the Museum’s Dornfeld collection grew from her petite “figurines,” into an exciting creative marathon of large-scale proportions. As each work developed, it soon led to another that would not be complete without another nor without each other! Very rarely does one witness the excitement and energy of a creative force like Gerit. It has been my pure joy to be swept up in Gerit’s enthusiastic ingenious and innovative wake! Ronald C. Nelson Executive Director Long Beach Museum of Art
Bonnet, Apt, France Tea warmer with stand, early 19th century Faience 12 x 5 inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.89.a.b.c
Gerit Grimm: The Ceramic Figurine Tradition as Subject Matter
Frankensteins Gerit Grimm, who spent years working as a production potter, and whose sculptural work depends upon the facility she developed during that experience, knows better than anyone that there is a kind of pact between the pot (and the potter) and the laws of physics, particularly those pertaining to material dynamics and gravity. The pot that accepts its limits—that works with gravity and not against it—and that aspires to only the most stable of form, gets rewarded both on the wheel and in the kiln, while the pot that tests the limits and aspires to some other role tends to get punished with a physical malady known by the name and posture that mimic the body language worn upon the shoulders of its maker when watching the work collapse in the studio or finding it deformed upon opening the kiln—the slump. It is in this context that one realizes that Grimm’s works are something more than the displays of technical wonder they truly are; they also are displays of a spirit of risktaking—of making pots do what they’re not supposed to do and employing them in service beyond their usual job description—a spirit that the process of pottery-making itself tends to condition out of its practitioners over time. For all the technical perfection and propriety in them—they descend after all from a good potter’s good pots—they are inherently rebellious, and though Grimm does such a fine job of pulling it off that you don’t notice it at first, the fact is that that her pottery-based works only achieve their complexity, dynamism, and litheness of form by risking technical failure in all steps of their creation.
This is an original body of figurative ceramic sculpture that celebrates, elevates and artistically takes to task the rich history of the ceramic figurine.
The technical risk that is ever present in Grimm’s work—in pushing pots where physics doesn’t want them to go—parallels and adds emphasis to another element of risk equally ever present in her practice, and equally tied to taking matters beyond conventional zones of comfort or safety. Grimm, whose surname implies a predestination for predilection and preoccupation in the terrain of fantasy and fairytale, works within such terrain not unlike the way she works with the thrown pot—taking a humble folk form to the edge of too far. The ceramic figurine—in essence another folk form that can be pushed—provides the point of union for Grimm’s other fascinations. The figurine’s union of narrative and form in clay offers Grimm the opportunity to merge pot and fairytale in a manner that naturally pushes the boundaries of each and makes each stranger, and that also calls to mind any number of tales of individuals forming and bringing to life everything from dolls to puppets to statues. There is wonder and grace to be found in this union, but also discomfort and awkwardness, and in the pause that the awkward gives the mind, what percolates up are at times darker themes that figurines and fairytales often embody but suppress. In their odd object/people/creature unions, one finds Gepettos, Aarons, Pygmalions, Sirens, Rumplestiltskins, Frankensteins, Pied Pipers and their many kin in myth, lore and fable, as well as flashes of the real-world figures and narratives with which such characters and their stories once did and continue to find resonance. This is the edge of risk to which Grimm’s works lure us. As endearing, entertaining, and wondrous as they are, they also are troubled, troubling, and troublesome…and they mean to be.
Tony Marsh Professor, Ceramic Arts California State University Long Beach
Christopher Miles Chair, Art Department California State University Long Beach
The history of the ceramic figurine tradition is both deep and wide. It has been challenged if not assaulted by the original ceramic art of German born artist Gerit Grimm. Many ceramists through much of the second half of the 20th Century have used the idea and history of the ceramic figurine as an artistic device to spoof, honor or ridicule a particular subject of their choice. Few artists have successfully challenged the inherent issues of scale and color that are the hallmarks of the figurine tradition in almost any culture. Grimm has taken on both in an original way, in a relatively short period of time while in residency in our studios at CSULB. The subject matter in her tableaus runs the gamut from charming to uneasy to brutal. Each of the works however is so tenderly and skillfully crafted, with most of the components made on the potter’s wheel, that they elicit an empathetic response in the viewer. The historical polychrome glaze finish has been replaced by the natural fired color of the clay. It is somber and distant and prevents the work from transgressing the slippery slope of whimsy.
Of What We Are That exchange is an important milestone in the history of Europe’s obsession with porcelain, and by extension, with figurines. They quickly refined the recipe for porcelain, and famous modelers such as Johann Joachim Kändler began making figures which adorned the palaces of European aristocrats. Middleclass shoppers in England wanted to own their own mantlepiece figurines which they soon were able to buy for pennies from the Staffordshire potters influenced by German Meissen porcelain figures, but producing less expensive figures in earthenware. Market squares were always bustling with peddlers selling fruits, pots, and images (figurines) that depicted actors, celebrities of the day, famous and infamous. Miniature ceramic houses decorated with flowers and shrubs were often used as decorative incense burners. All these little sculptures presented stories both historic and relevant to the times in which they were produced and which today are appreciated for their vibrancy and charm. To our eyes, they are colorful and whimsical; however, upon closer inspection their meanings may also be poignant and even tragic. During the French Revolution, aristocrats were guillotined in the public square, while watching women knitted and children frolicked, entertained by the spectacle. Moving further away from the market we find a large, old tree with a communal bench around it. Here old and young meet to exchange tales. On one side we have a crowd of young, rowdy journeymen, and on the other, we view the cycle of life—women nurturing children and growing old.
“’We make our pots,’ runs an old Staffordshire saying, ‘of what we potters are...’ that is to say, clay.” 1 The composition and creation of my imaginary market square was a challenging and adventurous journey of discovery inspired by the history of ceramics, especially Staffordshire figures and French ceramics from the 17th and 18th centuries that are part of the permanent collection of the Long Beach Museum of Art. My central idea for this exhibit was to transgress the boundaries of folk art and fine art through an increase in scale, a greater austerity of surface produced by reduction firing, and by employing the esthetic language found in the history of European ceramic figurines. The fusion of these factors and visual devices and idioms has allusions to Pop and Surrealistic sensibilities—as if the market square were magically conveyed from the Old World into the New. The journey begins with the carriage of Augustus the Strong that is rushing to the Iron Maiden Fortress in Dresden, where he wishes to see the progress made by his alchemist, Johann Friedrich Böttger, and it continues to a market square set during the Baroque period, a time of great socio-economic inequality in Europe. Unlike most cities in the Western United States, European towns are built from the center outwards in a concentric-ring model, from a central market square to outlying regions. The center of the town is a public meeting place—in German, der Marktplatz—and there is often a central fountain and monument. The monument is usually a past ruler of the region, or a renowned figure such as Georg Friedrich Händel, the Baroque composer born in my hometown. In my new creation of a European market square, I have depicted the hero, Augustus the Strong of Dresden, Germany, a significant figure in the history of ceramics. My monument shows him admiring the first porcelain pot that Böttger created and extracted from the kiln. Porcelain had long been available only in China. Böttger had once been imprisoned by Augustus the Strong for claiming he could make gold—but instead discovered, along with the alchemist Walter von Tschirnhaus, the recipe for porcelain2, which became almost as precious as the gold Böttger claimed he could create. In my sculpture Böttger is depicted holding one of the eighteen Chinese dragoon vases which Augustus traded to Frederick the Soldier-King of Prussia (Soldatenkönig) for six hundred horse soldiers and their families, indeed a currency more precious than gold!
Being able to closely study the ceramic objects from the Marie W. Forrest and the Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld collections at the Long Beach Museum of Art was a special privilege for which I am very grateful. Those works inspired this new body of work and were a very special gift of inspiration and imagination from the Museum to me. It is my pleasure and delight to share this gift with you the viewer. Discover and enjoy the exhibition. Gerit Grimm Artist and guest curator February 2012 1 John Bedford, Staffordshire Pottery Figures. Walter and Company, New York, 1965. 2 For a detailed historical account of Augustus and Böttger, see Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum: the Extraordinary True Story. Warner Books, Inc., New York, NY, 1998.
Biography Gerit Grimm was born, and grew up in Halle, German Democratic Republic. In 1995, she finished her apprenticeship, learning the traditional German trade as a potter at the “Altbürgeler blau-weiss GmbH” in Bürgel, Germany and worked as a Journeyman for Joachim Jung in Glashagen, Germany. She earned an Art and Design Diploma in 2001 studying ceramics at Burg Giebichenstein, Halle, Germany. In 2001, she was awarded with the German DAAD Government Grant for the University of Michigan School of Art and Design, where she graduated with an MA in 2002. She received her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2004. She has taught at CSULB, Pitzer College, Doane College and MSU Bozeman and has worked at major residencies like Mc Coll Center, Bemis Center, Kohler Arts & Industry Program and Archie Bray Foundation. In 2009 NET Television created “Fantasia in Clay” a Nebraska Story about artist Gerit Grimm. Grimm now lives and works in Los Angeles, California. www.geritgrimm.com • http//:geritgrimm.lifeyo.com
Fruit Peddlers, 2011 Stoneware, 28 x 16 x 16 inches
Gardener, 2012 Stoneware, 39 x 23 x 25 inches
Teapot Peddlers, 2011 Stoneware, 33 x 20 x 20 inches
Village Tree, 2011 Stoneware, 56 x 23 x 23 inches
Carriage, 2011 Stoneware, 37 x 78 x 19 inches
Monument, 2011 Stoneware, 58 x 23 x 23 inches
Fountain, 2011 Stoneware, 41 x 26 x 26 inches
Image Peddler with Female Shopper, 2011 Stoneware, Man: 68 x 26 x 26 inches Woman: 62 x 22 x 22 inches
Guillotine, 2011 Stoneware, 41 x 22 x 22 inches
Image Peddler, 2011 Stoneware, 24 x 24 x 18 inches
Long Beach Museum of Art 2300 E. Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90803 (562) 439-2119 • www.lbma.org
from the
M useum ’ s C ollection
Long Beach Museum of Art March 15th – July 8th, 2012
Checklist 1. Staffordshire, England Bear Jar, ca. 1760 White Salt-glazed Stoneware 7 ½ x 6 x 9 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.89.a.b
13. Staffordshire, England Tythe pig spill vase, ca. 1820 Earthenware with enamel decoration 8 ½ x 8 x 4 3/8 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.141
2. Staffordshire, England Shepherd and Shepherdess, ca. 1820 Earthenware with enamel decoration 8 ½ x 4 3/8 x 3 ½ inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.95
14. Staffordshire, England White saltglazed lady, ca. 1760 Stoneware 3 3/8 x 2 x 1 1/8 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.140
3. Staffordshire, England Ale-Bench, ca. 1825 Earthenware with enamel decoration 7 x 7 ¼ x 4 ½ inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.115.a
15. Apt, France Cup and saucer, late 18th century - early 19th century Faience 2 ¾ x 3 ¼ inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.23.a.b
4. Staffordshire, England The Hairdresser, ca. 1820 Earthenware with enamel decoration 9 ½ x 6 ½ x 5 ½ inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.116
16. Pont-aux-Choux, Paris or Niderviller, France Figure of a woman with a basket, 18th century Faience 11 ¼ x 4 x 4 inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.35
5. Staffordshire, England Figure of a Female and Male Gardener, ca. 1825 Earthenware with enamel decoration 6 5/8 x 3 x 2 ¾ inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.133.a.b
17. Strasbourg, France Figure of a mother and child, ca. 1775 Faience 6 ½ x 2 ¼ x 2 inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.36
6. Staffordshire, England Rural Group, ca. 1820 Earthenware with enamel decoration 8 ¼ x 3 5/8 x 3 5/8 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.134
18. Apt, France Pitcher, 18th century Faience 7 x 5 7/8 x 4 ½ inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.48
7. Staffordshire, England Figure of a Gardener, ca. 1825 Earthenware with enamel decoration 5 3/8 x 2 ½ x 2 ¼ inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.151
19. Montereau, France Plate with decoration from the Fables of de la Fontaine: Cendrillon, ca. 1820 Faience 1 x 8 ½ inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.57
8. Staffordshire, England Courting Couple, ca. 1820 Earthenware with enamel decoration 8 ¼ x 3 ½ x 4 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.131.a.b
20. Montereau, France Covered sugar bowl, ca. 1820 Faience 4 3/8 x 4 1/8 inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.78.a.b
9. Staffordshire, England The Shoe Salesman, ca. 1820 Earthenware with enamel decoration 9 3/8 x 6 1/8 x 5 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.117
21. Bonnet, Apt, France Tea warmer with stand, early 19th century Faience 12 x 5 inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.89.a.b.c
10. England Yorkshire-type Figural Watch Stand, ca. 1800 Pearlware 8 ¾ x 5 5/8 x 3 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.145
22. Creil, France Set of Ten Plates, 19th century Faience 1 x 8 ½ inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.54.a.b.c.d.e.f.g.h.i.j
11. Staffordshire, England Farmer and Wife, ca. 1825 Earthenware with enamel decoration 9 ¼ x 3 5/8 x 2 ¾ inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.149
23. Montereau, France Eggcup attached to plate, ca. 1825 Faience 3 ½ x 4 ½ inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.31
12. Staffordshire, England New Marriage Act I, ca. 1835 Earthenware with enamel decoration 7 ½ x 4 ½ x 3 1/8 inches Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.158.a
Artist Gerit Grimm was especially inspired by these ceramics in the permanent collection of the Long Beach Museum of Art. The selections are from the Staffordshire Earthenware Collection, Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld; and the Marie Forrest Collection of Continental Earthenware, Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust. Both collections are available online at www.lbma.org. The Dornfeld Collection catalogue is also available for sale in the Museum shop.
Introduction The Long Beach Museum of Art has been a collecting institution for over 60 years, and during that time, the Museum has been the fortunate recipient of many generous gifts of art resulting in a significant permanent collection. Some gifts have come in the form of individual works of art, and others, as complete collections that have been carefully assembled over years by discerning collectors. Featured in this exhibition are contemporary works by ceramic artist Gerit Grimm, who was inspired by the over 100 Staffordshire Earthenware Ceramics from the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld, and, over 90 French faience ceramics from the Marie W. Forrest Trust. The combined collections span over 250 years of ceramic production. Both collections can be seen in their entirety on the Museum’s website, www.lbma.org, thanks to the support of The Institute for Museum and Library Services, The Ahmanson Foundation, The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation, The Dornfeld Family Trust, and the Getty Foundation. A catalogue of the complete Dornfeld collection is also available in the Museum Store. England As a museum accredited by the American Association of Museums, The Staffordshire, Hairdresser, ca. 1820 we are charged with caring for these historic works of art, and, Earthenware with enamel decoration 9 ½ x 6 ½ x 5 ½ inches just as importantly, sharing them with the community Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld 2005.116 for the public’s enjoyment and education. Artist Gerit Grimm has given us a fresh opportunity to present ceramic works that embody centuries of historic importance. In the past, these earthenware figures, some dating from the 17th century, were referred to as “toys” or “images” and depicted Old and New Testament Bible stories, socio-political events of their times, and traditional fables. They were purchased and enjoyed by a rising middle class looking for an affordable alternative to European porcelain.
It is significant that the talented and classically trained potter, Gerit Grimm, who has been working in clay since her youth, was drawn to the Museum’s historic ceramics collection. In this exhibition Gerit not only uses historic images and tales derived form the Museum’s collection, she goes on to brilliantly tell the story of how these works were created and when, how they were transported to market, and what was happening in the marketplace at the time of their creation. Gerit is not only creating a history lesson which is there for us to discover, she uses her powerful talent and skill with clay for aesthetic impact, a skill that comes from the hands and vision of an artist who “owns” the material used. For a museum to have the fortune to work with such a talented artist, and give a fresh contemporary interpretation of such rich ceramic history, is a rare event. As a teaching institution, this unique exhibition combining historic and contemporary ceramics will be of value for the students of the Long Beach Unified School District, the faculty and students of colleges, as well as collectors and other institutions from across the southland. It is noteworthy, that Grimm’s creations could not have happened if not for the exemplary ceramic Staffordshire, England The Shoe Salesman, ca. 1820 program at California State University Long Beach. Earthenware with enamel decoration 9 3/8 x 6 1/8 x 5 inches The ceramics program at CSULB, nurtured with Gift of the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld inspired vision and years of planning and growth, 2005.117
has attracted and “molded” many of the talented hands and fingers working in clay today. The physical location of Grimm’s unique sculptural constructions has been made possible through the CSULB College of the Arts with which the Museum has a close relationship of mutual discovery and sharing. What began as an invitation for a small curated exhibition and installation by Gerit in response to the Museum’s Dornfeld collection grew from her petite “figurines,” into an exciting creative marathon of large-scale proportions. As each work developed, it soon led to another that would not be complete without another nor without each other! Very rarely does one witness the excitement and energy of a creative force like Gerit. It has been my pure joy to be swept up in Gerit’s enthusiastic ingenious and innovative wake! Ronald C. Nelson Executive Director Long Beach Museum of Art
Bonnet, Apt, France Tea warmer with stand, early 19th century Faience 12 x 5 inches Gift of the Marie W. Forrest Trust 2006.89.a.b.c
Gerit Grimm: The Ceramic Figurine Tradition as Subject Matter
Frankensteins Gerit Grimm, who spent years working as a production potter, and whose sculptural work depends upon the facility she developed during that experience, knows better than anyone that there is a kind of pact between the pot (and the potter) and the laws of physics, particularly those pertaining to material dynamics and gravity. The pot that accepts its limits—that works with gravity and not against it—and that aspires to only the most stable of form, gets rewarded both on the wheel and in the kiln, while the pot that tests the limits and aspires to some other role tends to get punished with a physical malady known by the name and posture that mimic the body language worn upon the shoulders of its maker when watching the work collapse in the studio or finding it deformed upon opening the kiln—the slump. It is in this context that one realizes that Grimm’s works are something more than the displays of technical wonder they truly are; they also are displays of a spirit of risktaking—of making pots do what they’re not supposed to do and employing them in service beyond their usual job description—a spirit that the process of pottery-making itself tends to condition out of its practitioners over time. For all the technical perfection and propriety in them—they descend after all from a good potter’s good pots—they are inherently rebellious, and though Grimm does such a fine job of pulling it off that you don’t notice it at first, the fact is that that her pottery-based works only achieve their complexity, dynamism, and litheness of form by risking technical failure in all steps of their creation.
This is an original body of figurative ceramic sculpture that celebrates, elevates and artistically takes to task the rich history of the ceramic figurine.
The technical risk that is ever present in Grimm’s work—in pushing pots where physics doesn’t want them to go—parallels and adds emphasis to another element of risk equally ever present in her practice, and equally tied to taking matters beyond conventional zones of comfort or safety. Grimm, whose surname implies a predestination for predilection and preoccupation in the terrain of fantasy and fairytale, works within such terrain not unlike the way she works with the thrown pot—taking a humble folk form to the edge of too far. The ceramic figurine—in essence another folk form that can be pushed—provides the point of union for Grimm’s other fascinations. The figurine’s union of narrative and form in clay offers Grimm the opportunity to merge pot and fairytale in a manner that naturally pushes the boundaries of each and makes each stranger, and that also calls to mind any number of tales of individuals forming and bringing to life everything from dolls to puppets to statues. There is wonder and grace to be found in this union, but also discomfort and awkwardness, and in the pause that the awkward gives the mind, what percolates up are at times darker themes that figurines and fairytales often embody but suppress. In their odd object/people/creature unions, one finds Gepettos, Aarons, Pygmalions, Sirens, Rumplestiltskins, Frankensteins, Pied Pipers and their many kin in myth, lore and fable, as well as flashes of the real-world figures and narratives with which such characters and their stories once did and continue to find resonance. This is the edge of risk to which Grimm’s works lure us. As endearing, entertaining, and wondrous as they are, they also are troubled, troubling, and troublesome…and they mean to be.
Tony Marsh Professor, Ceramic Arts California State University Long Beach
Christopher Miles Chair, Art Department California State University Long Beach
The history of the ceramic figurine tradition is both deep and wide. It has been challenged if not assaulted by the original ceramic art of German born artist Gerit Grimm. Many ceramists through much of the second half of the 20th Century have used the idea and history of the ceramic figurine as an artistic device to spoof, honor or ridicule a particular subject of their choice. Few artists have successfully challenged the inherent issues of scale and color that are the hallmarks of the figurine tradition in almost any culture. Grimm has taken on both in an original way, in a relatively short period of time while in residency in our studios at CSULB. The subject matter in her tableaus runs the gamut from charming to uneasy to brutal. Each of the works however is so tenderly and skillfully crafted, with most of the components made on the potter’s wheel, that they elicit an empathetic response in the viewer. The historical polychrome glaze finish has been replaced by the natural fired color of the clay. It is somber and distant and prevents the work from transgressing the slippery slope of whimsy.
Of What We Are That exchange is an important milestone in the history of Europe’s obsession with porcelain, and by extension, with figurines. They quickly refined the recipe for porcelain, and famous modelers such as Johann Joachim Kändler began making figures which adorned the palaces of European aristocrats. Middleclass shoppers in England wanted to own their own mantlepiece figurines which they soon were able to buy for pennies from the Staffordshire potters influenced by German Meissen porcelain figures, but producing less expensive figures in earthenware. Market squares were always bustling with peddlers selling fruits, pots, and images (figurines) that depicted actors, celebrities of the day, famous and infamous. Miniature ceramic houses decorated with flowers and shrubs were often used as decorative incense burners. All these little sculptures presented stories both historic and relevant to the times in which they were produced and which today are appreciated for their vibrancy and charm. To our eyes, they are colorful and whimsical; however, upon closer inspection their meanings may also be poignant and even tragic. During the French Revolution, aristocrats were guillotined in the public square, while watching women knitted and children frolicked, entertained by the spectacle. Moving further away from the market we find a large, old tree with a communal bench around it. Here old and young meet to exchange tales. On one side we have a crowd of young, rowdy journeymen, and on the other, we view the cycle of life—women nurturing children and growing old.
“’We make our pots,’ runs an old Staffordshire saying, ‘of what we potters are...’ that is to say, clay.” 1 The composition and creation of my imaginary market square was a challenging and adventurous journey of discovery inspired by the history of ceramics, especially Staffordshire figures and French ceramics from the 17th and 18th centuries that are part of the permanent collection of the Long Beach Museum of Art. My central idea for this exhibit was to transgress the boundaries of folk art and fine art through an increase in scale, a greater austerity of surface produced by reduction firing, and by employing the esthetic language found in the history of European ceramic figurines. The fusion of these factors and visual devices and idioms has allusions to Pop and Surrealistic sensibilities—as if the market square were magically conveyed from the Old World into the New. The journey begins with the carriage of Augustus the Strong that is rushing to the Iron Maiden Fortress in Dresden, where he wishes to see the progress made by his alchemist, Johann Friedrich Böttger, and it continues to a market square set during the Baroque period, a time of great socio-economic inequality in Europe. Unlike most cities in the Western United States, European towns are built from the center outwards in a concentric-ring model, from a central market square to outlying regions. The center of the town is a public meeting place—in German, der Marktplatz—and there is often a central fountain and monument. The monument is usually a past ruler of the region, or a renowned figure such as Georg Friedrich Händel, the Baroque composer born in my hometown. In my new creation of a European market square, I have depicted the hero, Augustus the Strong of Dresden, Germany, a significant figure in the history of ceramics. My monument shows him admiring the first porcelain pot that Böttger created and extracted from the kiln. Porcelain had long been available only in China. Böttger had once been imprisoned by Augustus the Strong for claiming he could make gold—but instead discovered, along with the alchemist Walter von Tschirnhaus, the recipe for porcelain2, which became almost as precious as the gold Böttger claimed he could create. In my sculpture Böttger is depicted holding one of the eighteen Chinese dragoon vases which Augustus traded to Frederick the Soldier-King of Prussia (Soldatenkönig) for six hundred horse soldiers and their families, indeed a currency more precious than gold!
Being able to closely study the ceramic objects from the Marie W. Forrest and the Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Dornfeld collections at the Long Beach Museum of Art was a special privilege for which I am very grateful. Those works inspired this new body of work and were a very special gift of inspiration and imagination from the Museum to me. It is my pleasure and delight to share this gift with you the viewer. Discover and enjoy the exhibition. Gerit Grimm Artist and guest curator February 2012 1 John Bedford, Staffordshire Pottery Figures. Walter and Company, New York, 1965. 2 For a detailed historical account of Augustus and Böttger, see Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum: the Extraordinary True Story. Warner Books, Inc., New York, NY, 1998.
Biography Gerit Grimm was born, and grew up in Halle, German Democratic Republic. In 1995, she finished her apprenticeship, learning the traditional German trade as a potter at the “Altbürgeler blau-weiss GmbH” in Bürgel, Germany and worked as a Journeyman for Joachim Jung in Glashagen, Germany. She earned an Art and Design Diploma in 2001 studying ceramics at Burg Giebichenstein, Halle, Germany. In 2001, she was awarded with the German DAAD Government Grant for the University of Michigan School of Art and Design, where she graduated with an MA in 2002. She received her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2004. She has taught at CSULB, Pitzer College, Doane College and MSU Bozeman and has worked at major residencies like Mc Coll Center, Bemis Center, Kohler Arts & Industry Program and Archie Bray Foundation. In 2009 NET Television created “Fantasia in Clay” a Nebraska Story about artist Gerit Grimm. Grimm now lives and works in Los Angeles, California. www.geritgrimm.com • http//:geritgrimm.lifeyo.com
Fruit Peddlers, 2011 Stoneware, 28 x 16 x 16 inches
Gardener, 2012 Stoneware, 39 x 23 x 25 inches
Teapot Peddlers, 2011 Stoneware, 33 x 20 x 20 inches
Village Tree, 2011 Stoneware, 56 x 23 x 23 inches
Carriage, 2011 Stoneware, 37 x 78 x 19 inches
Monument, 2011 Stoneware, 58 x 23 x 23 inches
Fountain, 2011 Stoneware, 41 x 26 x 26 inches
Image Peddler with Female Shopper, 2011 Stoneware, Man: 68 x 26 x 26 inches Woman: 62 x 22 x 22 inches
Guillotine, 2011 Stoneware, 41 x 22 x 22 inches
Image Peddler, 2011 Stoneware, 24 x 24 x 18 inches
Long Beach Museum of Art 2300 E. Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90803 (562) 439-2119 • www.lbma.org
