September 18, 1999 through November 14, 1999

Dr. Robert P. Metzger and the Foundation for the Reading Public Museum are proud to present the Museum's most ambitious exhibit to date. Direct from the Kruithuis Museum in the Netherlands, comes Artists' Ceramics of the 20th Century. Opened Sept 11, 1999, this high-profile show is comprised of ceramic works by the 20th century's greatest artists like Cocteau and Picasso.

The history of art teaches us that it was not unusual in the past for artists to excel in several disciplines. The phenomenon was particularly common in the Renaissance. In subsequent ages the boundaries between the disciplines became increasingly strict. By the end of the 19th century, artists tended to stick to their 'own' discipline.

Ceramic work enabled these artists and many like them to add a spatial dimension to their painterly qualities. They explored the possibility of combining the sculptural and painterly potential of the clay. Although the traditional functionality of ceramic objects was cast aside, references to the original pot form appear with surprising frequency. Autonomous sculptural objects were also created, in which the characteristic painterly idiom of the maker remains strikingly visible. Artists' Ceramics of the 20th Century will be on exhibit until November 14, 1999.

Robert P. Metzger, Ph.D.
Director, CEO, Chief Curator Reading Public Museum