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Issues of 2008
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“I wake up with porcelain and go to bed with it”
— You are the President of GKF (The Society of Friends of Ceramics — Gesellschaft der Keramikfreunde, Germany), one of the major European associations of ceramists, existing over half a century. What are the distinctive features of the organization? — Our organization comprises a union of collectors, art science researchers and fans of the Art of Ceramics, especially, in the field of the European porcelain, faience and modern ceramics. It was established in DØsseldorf in 1951. Today the number of its members is more than 550 including about 100 museums and libraries both in Germany and abroad. We consider it our goal to provide both intellectual and material support to the scientific research in the field of ceramics. We do it particularly by means of the publications of the results of such studies and by organizing the visits to places of exhibitions of ceramic items. To keep our members communicating between themselves, we publish a quarterly journal, Keramos, the one with a broad range of themes. We organize annual meetings, in the frames of which we hear to artistic and cultural/historical reports and have excursions to see important collections of porcelain using services of professional guides. To support young talented artists working in the field of ceramics, we conduct the Richard-Bampi-Award and organize museum expositions of the award participants. We are the single organization in the world supporting the art of ceramics on such a massive scale. — Have you advanced in achieving the main goal of GKF: bolstering of ceramic research projects, collecting of ceramics, support and promotion of museums and researchers? What interesting and important displays and projects have you carried out, and what are going to do in near future? — Today, we prepare our annual meeting. Our last year meeting was held in St. Petersburg. This year we plan to meet in Schwerin. There we shall study numerous private and state collections. For this meeting we prepare a lot of reports on various subjects. Our Society publishes this year three books in the field of ceramics concerning the Italian majolica and the Frankenthaler porcelain manufacture. We have planned to launch an Internet project of creating a system of search for a particular paper among all our issues of KERAMOS. The project is rather costly, and we are searching for funds for its accomplishment. We maintain close contacts with our members mainly via the exchange of letters.
— What would you like to tell us about yourself, about your GKF activities and your scientific interests? What role do they play in your life? — Everyday I spend many hours being busy with my GKF activities. I was paying much attention to the ceramics since I was 17. My wife jokes that I wake up with porcelain in the morning and go to bed with it at night. As much as my time schedule permits me, I work for different scientific projects in the field of ceramics. Just at the moment, I collaborate on a German publication of a work concerning the porcelain of the St.Petersburg Imperial Porcelain manufacture. Also I work on a material for the Allgemeine Kunstlerlexikon. Parallel to it, I am in the study of the possibility of the attribution to a particular time period of the porcelain of the St.Petersburg Imperial Porcelain Factory of the N I mark depending on the appearance of this mark. Also, I work on the preparation of both my reports at the Congress in St.Petersburg in November about the Ludwigsburg manufacture and the fakes of Samson. — What role do European associations of ceramic experts, researchers and collectors play in the modern life? Do you collaborate with such organizations? Please, tell a few words about some of the most successful joint projects. — The interest to the classical porcelain stays as well as it was in the past. However, we must remember that only an «elite» small circle of people has this passion. In the recent few years, the prices for the low and middle costing items went down, except for the Meissen porcelain. This is a good period for starting collecting porcelain. It especially concerns such brand names as HÃchst, FØrstenberg, Berlin or Ludwigsburg, which can be purchased today at really low prices. This concerns also a number of foreign producers, such as, for example, Capodimonte. In ceramics as in all the other fields of art, we observe the pressure applied by the mass media sources in favor of the modern art. I think that the classic porcelain of the 18th century, which apart from artistic value also have considerable historical importance being rather rare, will manage to withstand this pressure and become again a favorite of the collectors’ interest. Mostly impressive action by our Society was the exhibition «Commedia dell'arte — Fest der KomÃdianten — Keramische Kostbarkeiten aus den Museen der Welt» 2001 in Schloss Charlottenburg in Berlin, which was aimed to mark the 50th anniversary of the Society. In course of the three month period, 400 items produced by more than 45 manufactures were exhibited there. The items were provided by 61 museum from the whole world. Never before so much objects of this theme were gathered together in one place. The society published a 3 volume catalogue devoted to the event. — Being an expert in European and Russian porcelain, are you a collector yourself? — When man studies various pieces of ceramics for many hours a day, it is natural that he decides from time to time to keep an item for his own by purchasing it. — What is the difference between a hobby and a serious collecting? What is your attitude to what you are doing? — There is no such difference: In both cases we speak about a dilettante in full meaning of this word, who practice an activity out of loving it in a non¬professional way, which does not prevent him from acquiring great knowledge of the matter and expertise in his field of interest. In this sense, I consider myself to be a dilettante.
— What is your favourite period in the history of ceramics? What art pieces do you prefer? — The scope of my interest changed in course of my life. Initially, I was interested in the German porcelain of the 18th century, namely in the Ludwigsburg Porcelain. Now my activities concern the whole range of the European porcelain from 18th to 21st century. The period of the «historicized» trend in art is of a lesser interest to me, for I consider it to be a «plagiarism», which can be interesting mainly from the historical point of view. — Where do you search for rare and unique pieces for your collection? How do you make decision on a certain piece? — The most members of our society, I think, visit auctions and antique shops. — Do you take part in auctions and cooperate with antique shops? What shops and auction houses dealing in Russian porcelain would you like to mention? Is Russian Imperial porcelain is valued adequately? — I cooperate with numerous auction houses. They often ask for my opinion in the field of ceramics. Especially it concerns the Russian porcelain. Sometimes I write introductory parts for different auction catalogues. In recent years, the number of the German auction houses were offering items of the Russian porcelain. In Germany, there is a lot of the Russian porcelain, which got there thanks to the close dynastic relations between the countries. It would be too bald to state that the Russian porcelain both of the 18th and the 19th centuries in the qualitative aspect reached that of the best European producers. Being though inferior to the products of Meissen und Sevres in the 18th century and KPM Berlin or Vienna of the 19th century, the Imperial Factory porcelain has a great historical meaning, for both in the 18th and the 19th centuries, it was the only manufacture in Europe working exclusively for the Imperial Court. This fact is the reason of far greater prices of this porcelain comparatively to the prices of the porcelain of the other European factories of the same class. The situation here resembles that with the Chinese porcelain with the Palace mark, the collectors being ready to pay a great money for. However, the 18th century Imperial porcelain of the times of Czarina Elisabeth or Czarina Catherine the Great must be valued much higher, being produced exclusively for the needs of the Imperial Court. So I think that the prices for this kind of porcelain are subject to correcting. — Is there antagonism between antique dealers, collectors and museum researchers in contemporary Europe? — In general, there is no such antagonism. However, there is a strong competition between the antique dealers. — What do you think about copies of early and important pieces produced by renowned porcelain manufactories, and about the copies made at the same workshops later (for instance, in XIX–early XX century)? — Speaking in general, all the European porcelain factories of the 18th century produced copies of their competitors’ items. KÄndler was the first master, who produced more or less original sujets, which were later more or less exactly copied by the others. The porcelain marks of the famous producers (such as Meissen) were also copied to some extent in order to increase the turnover of the small manufactures. I totally rejects only the deliberate forgeries of the famous porcelain pieces made on order, such as the works of the French producer Samson. — Is forging a serious problem nowadays? — Forgering was always a major problem and not only in the field of porcelain. There are great forgeries , which can be detected only by an experienced expert. There is not much forgeries of the Imperial Factory porcelain that I know expect from the Samson manufacture. This is also because it is rather complex to produce the same quality of warm colored guilding, which is Characteristic for the Imperial manufacture items. — Are you (or GKF) involved in any charity programs? — Our Society has no commercial goals. All members of our management board work on the nonpayment basis. We provide a certain financial support to the scientific studies in the field of ceramics, as well as to the publications in this field. — In autumn 2006, together with a large group of members of GKF you visited St. Petersburg and its environs. What do you think about museums and art collections of the Northern capital? — Our meeting in St.Petersburg was one of the most impressive in all the history of the Society, in spite of the fact that the collections of the porcelain in the Hermitage and in its affiliate museums, unfortunately, were inaccessible to us. During the preparation of the meeting, we received a lot of help and cooperation from the officials of the St.Petersburg museums and Imperial summer residences. — What artworks by German factories and private workshops from Petersburg based museums interested you most? Were you surprised to see some of them here? — I know that Hermitage possesses a mostly formidable collection of the German porcelain of the 18th century, including products of small factories, being very rare in Germany itself. — Have you discovered anything new after you got acquainted with collections of Russian porcelain? What do you think about the pieces produced by the Imperial Porcelain Factory and Russian private workshops? What is the most interesting in your opinion? — I was eager to meet the multitude of the Russian ceramics also because of the fact that till recently there was very little literature on the subject. So, before the trip, I had a definite idea of what the Russian porcelain is and hoped to improve my knowledge of the matter. My hopes were not in vane. The impression from seeing numerous big tableware sets in the summer imperial residences in the St.Petersburg suburbs was great. It concerns big gala sets such as, for example, the Golden and Coat of Arms sets in Pavlovsk and Guriev set in Peterhof. These sets are in very good condition due to careful preserving and have produced a great impression on the participants of our Society’s meeting in St.Petrersburg last year. They can serve an illustration of the strongest side of the Russian Imperial porcelain. Being placed on the long dining tables of imperial suburban palaces they produce a breathtaking impression on the spectator mainly due to the shining splendor of their massive golden decoration characteristic of the porcelain of the Imperial Porcelain manufacture of St. Petersburg. This magnificent shining of gold was aimed at creating the impression of the great power and richness of the Russia state of the 19th century. — Have you learnt anything from your visit to Imperial Porcelain Factory, its art lab and the Gallery featuring modern porcelain? — The visual impressions is the capital of a researcher in the field of art. The more a man sees, the more he understands about a matter. Only this experience can help in the complicated process of telling originals from forgeries. So, I have got to learn the kind of gold decoration characteristic for the Imperial manufacture, the style of hand painting of the e.g. A I or N I marks. It is interest to observe the process of the transformation of the «elite» Imperial manufacture into a people’s factory, which was accompanied by the adoption of a characteristic for the today’s Lomonosov factory folk style so unusual to a Western European eye. — We know that a seminar featuring several reports concerning Imperial Porcelain manufacture by the Hermitage researchers was held within the frames of your visit to St. Petersburg. Have you learnt anything new? — For many participants of our meeting, the Russian porcelain was totally new field of knowledge. So, our action had to a much extent an educational character. There were not much new information for me in these reports. — GKF is one of the organizers and informational sponsors of the first international conference of porcelain experts «Vinogradov Readings 2007» in St. Petersburg, Russia. We know that you will be among the speakers. Why have you decided to take part in the conference? — The Russian porcelain is the little known field with a small number of the publications devoted to the theme. I like to study the areas, being of little familiarity to most of the specialists. Previously, partly because of the political reason, theme of the Russian Imperial Porcelain was insufficiently studied. Today, more opportunities in this field are opened, also the possibility of the exchange of ideas with the Russian experts has appeared. I think that these new perspectives will bring important scientific results. — Not only museum researchers and curators but also antique dealers, collectors and auctioneers will take part in the conference. What do you think about such a many-sided and international approach to researching, promotion and popularization of European porcelain (including the Russian one)? What results do you expect from the conference? — It is usually believed that the collectors and the museum workers possess some deeper knowledge of the subject than the antique dealers, auctioneers, etc. One, however, must not underestimate the searching ability of the latter often using even their intuition in the process of discovering the unknown masterpieces. I think that all the three groups: collectors, musewm workers and traders working in the field of studying the old European porcelain are real enthusiasts, co-operating in their efforts, particularly, in the work of our Society.
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