exhibition

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When Marianne Heller, whose gallery in Heidelberg has been providing an inspiring platform for international contemporary ceramics for more than forty years, now takes a step into a distant past by staging an exhibition of early Thai ceramics, it?s no doubt surprising at first. It?s certainly an experiment for the gallerist and a special challenge for the viewer?s perceptual habits. But we soon realize that, compared to the multifarious shapes and designs of contemporary ceramics, the archaic appearance of these early fictile masterpieces lends them an aura of exquisite freshness and vibrancy or, expressed in other terms, a certain simplicity and naturalness that has a pleasantly soothing effect. The pieces on display are part of the collection put together by Dr. Kurt Sandmair (1932?2013), a patent attorney from Munich, who, between the mid-1960s and early 1980s, was able to amass one of the most important collections of Southeast Asian ceramics thanks to his diverse business contacts in the region. Obviously selected by the collector with an experienced eye, the ceramics, featuring archaic shapes and very special surface designs, transport the viewer to a mysterious, bygone world where a very distinctive concept of design prevailed.
Stephan von der Schulenburg

You will have the opportunity to purchase works out of the Sandmair Collection.