Bodil Manz

Denmark 1943

It is a bit of a cliché to say that an artist has forged their own language, but in Bodil Manz’s case this is certainly true. No other potter makes porcelain vessels that are remotely comparable to hers, so that our whole perception of the material is changed. Her paper-thin slip-cast pieces, like taut tissue and as light as egg shell, takes the material into another physical sphere, like the prismatic qualities of stained glass or a smooth translucent textile, as polished and silky as bone. The thinness of their walls are such that outer and inner surface decoration merge to create an integrated whole, with no uneasy separation of interior and exterior. The pot both contains and exudes light.

 

David Whiting


Instagram