Bodil Manz, Vase, Ceramic, Denmark, 1980s

Bodil Manz is a ceramicist known for her predominant use of ultra-thin, translucent eggshell porcelain to create distinctive cylindrical forms, anchored by bold, geometric abstractions in a style evocative of Russian Suprematism. Much in the way Morandi approached a still life or Albers the square, her engagement with the cylinder form ad infinitum is studied in the master’s ability to extract sublime nuance from the seemingly quotidien. In her own words, “Focusing and concentrating on a single object such as a sphere, a square, a cylinder, a cup, fundamentally something quite ordinary, the stuff of everyday life, [seems] indeed almost banal. But during the process we discovered fresh aspects and suddenly ‘the ordinary’ became a new experience.” Manz’s work is included in many important museum collections including: the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Victoria and Albert in London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Musée de Sèvres, France and the Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Japan.