Ceramics: A Rising Force in the Art Market
- Barbara Cortina
- May 8
- 5 min read
As the art market continues to evolve and recalibrate, we're seeing an increasing focus on collecting art for personal meaning and enjoyment, rather than solely for investment purposes.
This trend is contributing to a growing appreciation for ceramic art in both 20th-century and contemporary collecting circles.
Although ceramics - with a rich tradition that spans various cultures and centuries - have always been a significant part of the art market, they have often been viewed as a niche field compared to more traditional mediums like painting.
In recent years, however, the ceramic art market has experienced notable global growth and transformation, reflecting a deeper appreciation for iconic pieces by historical ceramic pioneers, as well as the creativity and craftsmanship of contemporary artists.
In contemporary ceramic production, innovative issues and experimental approaches (like the performative pottery of American artist Shawanda Corbett) have broadened the medium's appeal, attracting a diverse and also younger audience.
Premier institutions, as well, have demonstrated a heightened interest in ceramic works.
The Hayward Gallery in London hosted the exhibition "Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art" from October 2022 to January 2023, featuring prominent artists like Edmund De Waal, Magdalene Odundo, Betty Woodman, Ken Price, and Grayson Perry, among others.
While some ceramics are commanding high market values, many remain reasonably priced, making them more accessible for younger, emerging buyers.
Accessibility even by a younger or emerging audience of buyers is one of the reasons why the sector is particularly vibrant today, with specialized art galleries, dedicated art fairs (such as Ceramic Art London, Ceramic Brussels and the new Manifest Paris), magazines and platforms for online sales.
I have selected a range of artists from both the 20th and 21st century working with clay.
What unites them is their ability to push the boundaries of traditional techniques by exploring new forms, glazes, and conceptual ideas, thereby elevating the status of ceramics within art history.
Lucio Fontana (1899-1968)
"Critics used to say ceramics. I used to say sculpture"
The newly published catalogue raisonné of Lucio Fontana's ceramic sculptures, curated by Luca Massimo Barbero, features over 2,000 works. Additionally, an upcoming exhibition of Fontana’s ceramics, curated by the art historian Sharon Hecker, is set to take place this autumn at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.
These initiatives are likely to spark renewed interest in Fontana's ceramic production, which he began in the late 1920s and expanded significantly from the 1930s onwards.
A genious of the avant-garde, Fontana masterfully blended figurative and abstract elements, creating everything from still-life and battle scenes to the iconic Concetti Spaziali with slashes and holes in glazed terracotta (1949-1960).
Salvatore Fancello (1916-1941)
Fancello, who worked alongside Lucio Fontana at Tullio Mazzotti’s historic ceramic workshop in Albisola, is considered one of the greatest talents from the first half of the 20th century. He trained at ISIA (Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche) in Monza under the mentorship of Giuseppe Pagano, Arturo Martini, and Marino Marini.
Active in Milan during the 1930s, he tragically passed away at the young age of 25 in 1941 while serving on the front during World War II.
The artist had a remarkable ability to shape clay with lightness, fluidity, and inventiveness, while also paying special attention to colour, engobe decoration and graffito.
His expressive sculptures, depicting fantastical scenes from the animal world in natural settings, are highly sought after.
Heinz Mack (born in 1931)
Heinz Mack, a co-founder of Group Zero in 1957, has been experimenting with clay since 1997 and continues to do so today. “Compared to the ceramics of contemporary artists – the artist noted in a recent interview - I have to say that I have not produced plates and vases like Picasso or archaic patinas like Miró. From the very beginning of my work with clay, I intended to create pieces that reflect my strict sense of sculpture.”
For the 2024 edition of the Independent 20th Century art fair in New York, the Mack Foundation, in collaboration with Beck & Eggeling, has unveiled a selection of works created by the artist between 1990 and 2010.
These pieces feature simple, primordial forms resembling abstract patterns, drawing attention to their surfaces and highlighting Mack’s lifelong fascination with light and luminosity.
Intense, luminous coatings in colours such as yellow, red, deep black, and silver create mesmerizing optical effects.
Salvatore Arancio (born in 1974)
Educated at the Royal College of Art, Italian artist Salvatore Arancio is represented by Federica Schiavo Gallery in Rome. He's known for his diverse use of media and his exploration of themes related to nature, science, biology, and mythology.
Arancio approaches ceramics in a liberating manner, adhering only to the essential basics of the process while allowing chance to play a significant role, intentionally setting aside the technical knowledge he has developed over the years. The types of lustres and glazes he employs serve to create a sensory and subconscious relationship with the material.
By integrating his ceramic installations with photography, sound or video he intends to potentially disorient the viewer, encouraging new interpretations of his sculptural gestures and materials while also maintaining an element of seduction.
Magdalene Odundo (born in 1950)
Dame Magdalene Odundo, a critically acclaimed African-British artist, is celebrated for her elegant ceramic vessels. She has transformed these functional objects, rooted in traditional African pottery techniques from Kenya and Nigeria, into sculptural pieces.
Her work features flowing forms and smooth surfaces that reflect a variety of influences, including ancient ceramics, British studio pottery, and modernism.
Odundo's pieces invite viewers to appreciate the vessel as a symbol of continuity and cultural heritage, bridging the gap between the past and the present.
She is currently represented by Thomas Dane and Offer Waterman in London.
Victor Fotso Nyie (born in 1990)
Victor Fotso Nyie is a graduate of the IFA Art School in Mbalmayo, Cameroon.
He pursued further studies in Italy at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ravenna, where he earned a three-year diploma in mosaic. He later attended a two-year sculpture course at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. In 2015, he obtained a diploma as a technician in the design and prototyping of ceramic artifacts at the ITS in Faenza, where he currently resides.
His artistic research focuses on the condition of contemporary African individuals, portrayed through enigmatic clay heads finished with shiny patinas in gold.
According to the artist, the use of gold wants to contrast sharply with the invisibility often faced by Black bodies in the Western world, while also evoking a more ethereal and divine dimension.
Represented by P420 in Bologna, Victor Fotso Nyie's work has been exhibited for the first time at the Venice Art Biennale in 2024.
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