Jason Jacques proudly announces the opening of Behind the Curtain: Treasures from the Vault -- the gallery’s largest group exhibition to date. To celebrate this milestone event, a special reception and tour with Jason Jacques and Jason Busch will take place on Wednesday, July 11th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

With over 100 works on view, this unprecedented historic show provides a wide-reaching survey of styles and design movements in ceramic art, from functional vessels to decorative sculpture, while emphasizing the clay medium’s role in the visual arts from the turn of the 20th century forward. Viewers will be able to witness the narrative arc of technical, aesthetic, and experimental developments in ceramic during a fascinating moment in its history. 

Representing more than two-dozen ceramic artists and companies, masters of the Art Pottery Renaissance, the exhibition evokes the experience of visiting the vaunted ceramic vault in upstate New York where the gallery maintains its collection. Among the iconic ceramists included in this must-see exhibition are Taxile Doat, Galileo Chini, T.A.C. Colenbrander, Paul Daschel, and Pierre Adrien Dalpayrat. Together these artists pushed the boundaries of clay and explored innovative surfaces in Japonist, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco designs. 

“The artists presented in the exhibition are pioneers of modern ceramic art,” says Jason Jacques, principal of his eponymous gallery. “They paved the way for the ascension of ceramics, and its uncontested place in contemporary art.”

Behind the Curtain reveals the diverse formal potential of the ceramic medium in this tour de force exhibition. Abstract and representational motifs, innovative developments, and the impact of the overall whole inform the curatorial approach to this exhibition.

“As the Jason Jacques business approaches its 30th anniversary later this year, we inaugurate our celebration of visionary designs and techniques in ceramic art from the beginning of the last century,” says Jason T. Busch, director of the gallery. “This important period of production - the foundation of the gallery’s collection - is when European artists began to boldly experiment with glazes and forms with amazing success.” 

Exhibited artists and firms include:  Amphora, Arabia, Thorvald Bindesbøll, Ernest Bussière, Ernest Carrière, Jean-Joseph Carriès, Ernest Chaplet, Marcel Chevalier, Galileo Chini, T.A.C. Colenbrander, Arthur Craco, Paul Dachsel, Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat, Émile Decoeur, Taxile Doat, Valdemar Engelhardt, Atelier de Glatigny, Adolf Hjorth, Georges Hoentschel, Paul Jeanneney, Léon Kann, Edmond and Raoul Lachenal, Max Laeuger, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Clément Massier, Pietro Melandri, Paul Milet, Théo Perrot, Henri Robalbhen, Theodore Schmutz-Baudiss, Séraphin Soudbinine, Eduard Stellmacher, Fachschule Teplitz, Ernst Wahliss, and Zsolnay. 

About Jason Jacques Gallery

Approaching its 30th year, the Jason Jacques Gallery is a primary driver in important design and ceramic art. The company mounts numerous exhibitions throughout the year at its 73rd Street and Madison Avenue gallery, as well as appearing at international art and design fairs including Design Miami, Frieze, FOG Design + Art Fair in San Francisco, and TEFAF in Maastricht. Its touted publications include Exotica, a compendium of essays by leading scholars on French master ceramists. Works sold by Jason Jacques Gallery are owned by art museums throughout the country, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Detroit Institute of Arts, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Saint Louis Art Museum.

The Jason Jacques Gallery is located at 29 East 73rd Street. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, July 2nd to August 31st, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and by appointment. For more information, visit www.jasonjacques.com