Making It Modern: European Ceramics from the Martin Eidelberg Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art highlights more than 60 ceramic works dating from the 1880s to 1910s that showcase the aesthetic, conceptual, and technical experimentation of ceramic artists in Europe. Working in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia, these artists sought to break from the past by developing new, distinctive modes of making. With a renewed interest in the natural world as a source of artistic inspiration, they experimented with decoration, forms, and ideas to make their art modern. On view June 16, 2025, through January 4, 2026, the exhibition features a selection drawn from a gift of approximately 80 ceramics given to The Met by scholar Martin Eidelberg in the years 2022–24.
“This exhibition brings into focus a pivotal moment at the turn of the century when ceramics were central to the exploration of modernism across Europe and across the fine and decorative arts,” said Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer of The Met. “The incredible originality and creativity of these works offer clear evidence of the dramatic changes in ceramic design and production during this period. Thanks to the generosity of Martin Eidelberg, an extraordinary collector and prolific scholar, we can better appreciate these truly outstanding objects within their larger historical context.”
The years in which the Eidelberg ceramics were produced coincided with the emergence of the popular Art Nouveau movement in which artists brought abstracted forms from nature into their work. Few of these pieces, however, align closely with the common conception of that style. Instead, these ceramics reflect the desire for individual artistic expression and the enormous creativity that make this period such a rich chapter in European ceramic history.
Another formative influence on this new style’s development came from the interest in Asian ceramics, particularly Japanese stoneware. While European fascination in the arts of Asia was long-standing, this interest had a new focus: the artisanal experimentation emphasizing the sculptural form of the vessel and the abstract application of glazes. This aesthetic of imperfection was revelatory to European audiences.
Among the exhibition’s key objects are an extraordinary large circular plaque produced at the Rozenburg factory in the Netherlands with a painted decoration that has no historical precedents; a gourd-shaped vase by the ceramic artist Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat that reflects the new focus on nonfunctional, organically inspired shapes with abstract glazes largely determined by the firing process; and an openwork vase seemingly formed of overlapping nasturtium leaves and stems produced by the celebrated Danish factory of Bing & Grondahl. All of these objects are a manifestation of the desire of artist-potters and ceramic factories at the end of the 19th century to create new modes of expression that allowed them to explore highly original forms and methods of decoration.
Sarah E. Lawrence, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Curator in Charge of The Met’s Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, said, “This exhibition captures a remarkable moment in the history of ceramics that centers the decorative arts in the formation of early modernism. European ceramic artists intentionally sought distinctive modes of making their art modern, though innovations of form and experimentations in material, shape, technique, and glazes.”
Guest curator Jeffrey Munger added, “The aim of this exhibition is to highlight the creativity of ceramic artists in Europe at the end of the 19th century. A common goal was to produce new forms and types of decoration that reflected the dawn of a new century, and the variety of means that were explored in this pursuit demonstrate the remarkable inventiveness and innovative spirit of artist-potters at this time.”
Credits and Related Content
Making It Modern: European Ceramics from the Martin Eidelberg Collection is curated by Sarah E. Lawrence, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Curator in Charge of The Met’s Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, and guest curator Jeffrey Munger.
The exhibition is accompanied by an issue of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin.
The Met’s quarterly Bulletin program is supported, in part, by the Lila Acheson Wallace Fund for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, established by the co-founder of Reader’s Digest.
The exhibition is featured on The Met website, as well as on social media.
###
June 11, 2025