Jürgen Partenheimer: Calliope

This cautious change of perspective

In ancient mythology, CALLIOPE is the "beautiful-voiced one" and is considered the muse of epic poetry among the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne ("memory"). In his Table Talks, Plato gives her a pre-eminent position among the muses; Homer sings of her as the mother of Orpheus. Her characteristic attributes are a stylus and writing tablet. No wonder, then, that in traditional lead typesetting under the name calliope, and especially in Art Nouveau, these were often used as end pieces, i.e. at the end of a column framed by lines. For Jürgen Partenheimer, they lend their title to an edition that he produced for Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg, Munich, in three different vessel shapes. The sculptural vessels are based on his abstract design drawings, which once again show him to be the representative of a minimalist, yet highly personal and poetically conceived formal language. The vessels in the "CALLIOPE" edition are hand-turned, a practice rarely used in the history of Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg, which traditionally works with moulds; moreover, their effect is entirely determined by the specific character of the material, which undergoes an incalculable transformation when exposed to moisture and drying or fired and glazed. The moulds are deliberately exposed to the conditions in which the porcelain is melted, moved, compacted and hardened. The edition of the vessels has been produced in different versions, whereby three different shapes have been combined in an exclusive edition of seven pieces each as bisque or glaze firing in different colour and drawing variations. The resulting vessels are unique in form and design, signed and numbered by the artist. After several presentations of individual pieces, this volume now presents the complete series for the first time, together with drawings and documentary photographs of various states of completion, on the occasion of the exhibition at the Musée Ariana in Geneva.

Exhibition:
Musée Ariana Genève, 20/11/2015 - 20/3/2016