Wietske van Leeuwen – Rocambolesque

Who is not familiar with the paintings of the Milanese Renaissance artist Giuseppe Archimboldo (1527-1595)? His spectacular portraits are composed like collages of vegetables, grain, fruit, fish, books or baskets. Archimboldo’s eccentric and humorous artworks were highly valued at aristocratic courts and were welcome additions to art collections and cabinets of curiosities. Afterwards collage disappeared from view for centuries, until Dadaists and Surrealists breathed new life into the genre. Since then, collage has developed into an artistic genre in its own right.

Bowl, shell green with emerald green glass base, 2018, H 12 cm, W 43 cm. Photo def image.

Born in Rotterdam in 1965, Wietske van Leeuwen has devoted herself to naturalistic assemblages in her ceramics for over thirty years. In 1993, she completed her ceramic studies at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, which was directed by Jan van der Vaart (1931-2000). Personal style and technical perfection were still in demand at that time, but craftsmanship has completely disappeared from the curriculum today. The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam acquired works by Wietske van Leeuwen very early on. The Amsterdam-based gallery owner Carla Koch (1949-2022) represented her until the gallerist’s death.

As a child, Wietske van Leeuwen was fascinated by her grandfather’s collection of seashells. She inherited her love of plants from her father, who transformed the spacious grounds of her parental home into an Edenic paradise. This ceramicist likes to use seashells “because they are fan-shaped and fit together symmetrically.” The same applies to tapered snail shells, which reveal the natural process of organic growth.

Baptismal font, 2012 / 2016. ceramic, 22 x 33 cm. Photo def image.

Wietske van Leeuwen from Amsterdam has favoured naturalistic assemblages for over 30 years. Vessel with lid from the Rocambolesk series, 2015. H 31, D 30 cm. Photo def image.

Wietske van Leeuwen found an important source of inspiration in the cubism of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Juan Gris (1887-1927) as well as in the work of Dadaists such as Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) and Surrealists like Max Ernst (1898-1976) and René Magritte (1898-1967). She is also inspired by contemporary artists such as Rhonda Zwillinger and herman de vries as well as the ceramics of Claire Parington, Carolein Smit and Paul Young, the clothing of Dries van Noten and the interior design of David Hicks.

The ceramicist begins by making plaster molds into which she imprints the contours of seashells, snail shells, lemons, peppers, coiled ropes, hogweed stalks or the stems of Roman glasses. She frequently utilizes objects from her surroundings, for example, an artichoke from her allotment. “If I find something on a stroll, I use it. Sometimes I also reuse an old plaster mold. I still have almost all of them, even from thirty years ago.” She crafts the interior with the same dedication as the exterior and the bottom.

The vessel Artichoke, 2022, H 15 cm, D 36 cm. Photo Tom Haartsen.

Wietske van Leeuwen was born with a love of organic forms. Her father transformed his garden into a blooming paradise. Her grandfather had a collection of shells. © Wietske van Leeuwen.

Wietske van Leeuwen enhances her objects with brightly colored transparent glazes and thinly rubbed rusty-brown engobes. Each piece is fired several times. When it emerges from the kiln, she often discovers surprising results that cannot be repeated. She tirelessly experiments with new color combinations: boredom must never be allowed to rear its tiresome head. Although some people compare her work to patisserie like a Saint-Honoré cake or a croquembouche with multiple cream puffs, each creation is in fact a centerpiece that serves as a conversation piece. If she doesn’t like a piece, she smashes it with a hammer or scatters the shards on the garden path “like a ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams.’” Thimo te Duits