Bouke de Vries at the Soane Museum | Visions In Porcelain: A Rake’s Progress

BOUKE DE VRIES

Visions in Porcelain: A Rake’s Progress 7 June–10 September 2023 Sir John Soane’s Museum, London

BOUKE DE VRIES Visions in Porcelain: A Rake’s Progress

Visions in Porcelain: A Rake’s Progress is an exhibition of eight porcelain vases by artist Bouke de Vries inspired by William Hogarth’s series of paintings: A Rake’s Progress (1732-1734). Hogarth’s iconic narrative series, housed in the celebrated Picture Room at Sir John Soane’s Museum, follows the swift demise of Tom Rakewell, the heir of a rich merchant who squanders his inherited wealth, leading to his ruin and ultimate madness.

Visions in Porcelain explores Tom Rakewell’s descent into degradation through the darkening palette of increasingly fractured vases. De Vries works with damaged historic ceramics, exploring their resonance as he builds his ‘exploded’ assemblages. In creating new work from fragments and shards, de Vries allows new stories and meanings to emerge, whilst also exploring and celebrating a fragile and deconstructed beauty.

A specially commissioned film accompanies the exhibition, featuring an interview with Bouke de Vries and independent curator and writer, Kathleen Soriano, alongside insights from the Soane’s curatorial team exploring connections between de Vries’ work and Hogarth’s renowned series.

View online at www.soane.org

BOUKE DE VRIES A Rake’s Progress, 2021

A set of eight porcelain vases Artist proof £ 140,000 Heights 52.5cm–59cm Diameters 24.5cm–34cm

Individual vases £ 15,000 each, to order Only two examples will be made in addition to the artist’s proof

William Hogarth, A Rake’s Progress I: The Heir, 1734 © Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.

Our anti-hero, Tom Rakewell, inherits his fortune from his miserly father.

A sense of promise and potential is signified by a perfect baluster vase (a traditional eighteenth-century form). The piece is finished in the brightest of jade-coloured, celadon glazes.

BOUKE DE VRIES A Rake’s Progress I, The Heir, 2021 Porcelain with gold decal lettering Height 57cm (22 1/2”)

William Hogarth, A Rake’s Progress II: The Levée, 1734 © Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.

The profligacy begins as we see the appearance of the first crack. De Vries creates a small slash in the clay that opens further during the firing process.

BOUKE DE VRIES A Rake’s Progress II,The Levée, 2021

Porcelain with gold decal lettering Height 57cm (22 1/2”)

William Hogarth, A Rake’s Progress III: The Orgy, 1734 © Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.

Hogarth depicts Rakewell indulging at an illicit party within a brothel. The gathering pace to his inevitable downfall is suggested by the spiralling goldplated, barbed wire which precariously holds together the fractured vessel contained within.

BOUKE DE VRIES A Rake’s Progress III,The Orgy, 2021

Porcelain with gold-plated wire and gold decal lettering Height 54.5cm (21 1/2”)

William Hogarth, A Rake’s Progress IV: The Arrest, 1734 © Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.

Rakewell’s life ‘explodes’ and the punctured vase is blown outwards, mirroring Rakewell’s undignified exit from the sedan carriage in the corresponding painting. At the leather-hard stage of creating this vessel, the clay was pushed outwards by hand, allowing for an area of weakness which in turn stimulates the dramatic collapse achieved during the firing process.

BOUKE DE VRIES A Rake’s Progress IV,The Arrest, 2021

Porcelain with gold decal lettering Height 52.5cm (20 5/8”)

William Hogarth, A Rake’s Progress V: The Marriage, 1734 © Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.

To regain wealth and status, Rakewell marries a rich widow. Vase five has been restored with gold, using the traditional Japanese technique of kintsugi, where damage becomes a celebrated aspect in the history of the object.

This restorative technique resumes the metaphor, demonstrating the act of repair to Rakewell’s life through a much needed, if morally questionable, input of funds.

BOUKE DE VRIES A Rake’s Progress V,The Marriage, 2021 Porcelain with kintsugi restoration and gold decal lettering Height 57cm (22 1/2”)

William Hogarth, A Rake’s Progress VI: The Gaming House, 1734 © Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.

Recklessly staking his newfound wealth in the gambling den; Rakewell’s life falls apart once more. Vase six fragments and explodes. De Vries has often used this technique in his work, capturing a frozen moment of destruction.

The assorted shards have been mounted on a brass armature.

BOUKE DE VRIES A Rake’s Progress VI,The Gaming House, 2021

Porcelain fragments mounted on bronze armature with gold decal lettering Height 59cm (23 1/4”)

William Hogarth, A Rake’s Progress VII: The Prison, 1734 © Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.

All is lost. Incarcerated in a debtors’ prison, Rakewell has sunk to an alltime low. A sense of imprisonment is achieved through the use of numerous metal staples to bind the broken vase together. Historically, this was a commonly used restoration technique, and these particular staples have been removed and collected by de Vries from important, yet fundamentally damaged ceramics that he has worked on as a ceramics restorer over the last thirty years.

BOUKE DE VRIES A Rake’s Progress VII,The Prison, 2021

Porcelain with gold-leafed rivets and gold decal lettering Height 57cm (22 1/2”)

William Hogarth, A Rake’s Progress VIII: The Madhouse, 1734 © Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.

In this final chapter, Rakewell’s life has entirely fallen apart. Condemned to the madhouse at Bedlam, he has become entertainment for paying visitors.

The fragments are now chaotically contained within a glass vessel, made in the same form as the initial, perfect vase. This reminds the viewer of the Rake’s origins, tumultuous journey, and inevitable demise. The porcelain is glazed in near-black, concluding the spectrum of celadon shades employed across the vases to further strengthen the conceit of degradation.

BOUKE DE VRIES A Rake’s Progress VIII,The Madhouse, 2021

Glass following the original form of its contents; the remains of a porcelain vase, with gold decal lettering Height 57cm (22 1/2”)

BOUKE DE VRIES A Rake’s Progress, 2021

A set of eight porcelain vases Artist proof £ 140,000 Heights 52.5cm–59cm Diameters 24.5cm–34cm

Individual vases £ 15,000 each, to order Only two examples will be made in addition to the artist’s proof

ABOUT THE ARTIST Originally working in fashion before retraining as as a restorer, de Vries began creating his works of ar t in 2008. He has since gained a significant following and now has work in an impressive range of international public collections, including the National Museum of Scotland, the National Museum of Ar t, Architecture, and Design, Oslo, Norway and the Philadelphia Museum of Ar t, USA. De Vries sees an inherent value in the discarded objects he reinvents, giving a new lease of life to a broad spectrum of ceramics otherwise destined to be thrown away. His pieces are often humorous, sometimes shocking, but always reinvent significant, yet damaged, historical materials, whilst adding unexpected twists to their ongoing narrative.

Bouke de Vries with Visions in Porcelain: A Rake’s Progress, 2021

BOUKE DE VRIES Born 1960, Utrecht, The Netherlands 1978-1981 1981-1982

Design Academy, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (3-D Design) Central St. Martin’s, London (Textiles)

Also worked for Stephen Jones, John Galliano, Zandra Rhodes PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums, Aberdeen Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh Pallant House Gallery, Chichester Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland York Art Gallery, Yorkshire Zabludowicz Collection, London Kasteel d’Ursel, Hingene, Belgium The National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design, Oslo, Norway

Le Château de Nyon, Nyon, Switzerland Musée Ariane, Geneva, Switzerland Musée cantonal de design et d’arts appliques contemporains, Lausanne, Switzerland Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands LAM, Sassenheim, The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, The Netherlands Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, USA Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, USA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2023 Bouke de Vries: Memories in Porcelain, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, USA Visions in Porcelain: A Rake’s Progress, Sir John Soane’s Museum, London 2020 War and Pieces, Installation, The Frick Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA 2019 War and Pieces, Installation, Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, Washington, USA War and Pieces, Installation, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama, USA 2018 War and Pieces, Installation, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut, USA Nieuw Amsterdams Peil, Ron Mandos Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2017 Un-Damaged, Museo Della Ceramica Mondovi, Mondovi, Italy Fractured Images, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London 2016 The Golden Box, Croome Court, High Green, Worcestershire War and Pieces, Berrington Hall, Berrington, Herefordshire Studying Human Activity Through the Recovery of Material Culture, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, The Netherlands The Silk Route, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London War and Pieces, The Harley Gallery, Worksop, Nottinghamshire War and Pieces, Hetjens-Museum, Düsseldorf, Germany

2015 War and Pieces, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Den Haag, The Netherlands 2014 Fragments, Chateau de Nyon, Nyon, Switzerland Threads of My Life, Gloria Maria Gallery, Milan, Italy 2013 War and Pieces, Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland Portretten Op Buitenplaats Beeckestijn, Velsen, The Netherlands War and Pieces, Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin, Germany War and Pieces, Residency with Outset Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Bouke de Vries: Bow Selector, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester 2012 War and Pieces, The Holbourne Museum, Bath 2011 Signs (Metamorphosis), Gloria Maria Gallery, Milan, Italy Precious, Art at Annoushka, 41 Cadogan Gardens, London Fire, Works, Vegas Gallery, London 2010 Pieces, Super Window Project, Kyoto, Japan A Grand Tour of My Mind, Gloria Maria Gallery, Milan, Italy Deconstructions, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

VIEW THE FILM A specially commissioned film accompanies the exhibition. Featuring an inter view with Bouke de Vries and independent curator and writer Kathleen Soriano, along with insights from the Soane’s curatorial team exploring the connections between de Vries’ work and Hogar th’s series.

UPCOMING EVENTS AT THE SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM LONDON

BOUKE DE VRIES Visions in Porcelain: A Rake’s Progress 7 June–10 September 2023 13 June 2023, 7pm Bouke de Vries in conversation with Louisa Buck, British art critic and contemporary art correspondent for The Art Newspaper 22 June 2023, 8.30–10.30am London Festival of Architecture: Exhibition Viewing. Architects’ Houses and Visions in Porcelain: A Rake’s Progress To book and for fur ther details visit www.soane.org

Viewing Hogarth’s paintings, A Rake’s Progress in the Picture Room Hogar th’s original paintings, A Rake’s Progress is available to view in the Picture Room daily at 10.30am and 2.30pm, with free entr y to the museum. The works can otherwise be viewed on the Highlights Tour at 11.30am. Tickets available online at www.soane.org.

Museum Opening Times Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm (last admission 4.30pm).

Closed Monday and Tuesday, but open on bank holidays.

Entr y is free.

For further details and information see www.soane.org