The Scholar´s Eye: Contemporary Ceramics from the Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection

In 2007, the MFAH announced the acquisition of one of the most important private collections of contemporary ceramics in the world, assembled by Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio. Clark and Del Vecchio are New York-based scholars and dealers who have been leaders in the field of contemporary ceramics for the past 25 years. Clark and Del Vecchio´s collection includes more than 375 works from around the world, created from 1940 to the present. Asian, African, and Latin American artists are represented in the collection, but European and American artists form the core of its holdings. In-depth surveys of artists such as Marek Cecula, Ruth Duckworth, Laszlo Fekete, Ken Ferguson, Anne Kraus, Richard Notkin, Akio Takamori, Beatrice Wood, and Betty Woodman demonstrate the range of artistic expression not only within the field but also over the course of an artist´s career. Additionally, the collection contains work by artists who are known primarily for sculpture and painting but who also worked in clay: Arman, Sir Anthony Caro, Lucio Fontana, Roy Lichtenstein, and Claes Oldenburg. The Scholar´s Eye comprises approximately 30 examples that demonstrate the breadth and depth of this outstanding collection, introducing audiences to the power and beauty of ceramic art and design. Functional vessels, abstract and sculptural forms, as well as narrative works broaden traditional ideas about ceramics as an art form. Installations, prints and drawings by many of the artists, and objects with roots in industrial design are also important subsets to this collection that showcases a range of aesthetics.