'Work' (after Ford Madox-Brown) (2018)

Leah Jensen, Work, image courtesy of Manchester City Galleries, the artist. Photo credit: Michael Pollard Leah Jensen, Work, image courtesy of Manchester City Galleries, the artist. Photo credit: Michael Pollard

Classification:

Craft, Pottery, Ceramic

Physical Object Description:

Incised, on base underneath: 'Work' 2018 L. Jensen

Technique:

Coiling

Dimensions:

34 x 17.5 cm

Accession Number:

2018.69

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society through the Omega Fund, 2017/18

Scheme:

Craft Acquisition Scheme: Omega Fund (2014-)

Ownership history:

Purchased from the artist by the Contemporary Art Society, 29 March 2018; presented to Manchester Art Gallery, 2018

Relationship:

Manchester Art Gallery

Subject:

Pre-Raphaelite

Leah Jensen is one of the UK’s most compelling emerging ceramicists. She mixes innovative techniques and processes with a love of historic paintings to create vessels with astonishingly finely carved three-dimensional geometric patterns. Jensen makes classic forms from coiled clay, then connects focal points from an old master painting onto the clay while it is leather hard, using pins 'to unearth hidden geometric patterns that reside beneath the surface’. The pin holes derived from the painting enable her to map out intricate patterns. Her carving is so fine and so precise that it appears to be the product of digital design and production, but it is in fact made meticulously by hand in its entirety and she relishes the process of carving.

In Work Jensen uses her strategy of planning and outlining hidden geometric structures, moving on from the Renaissance period that inspired her previous work to the Pre-Raphaelite era. Within this new painterly realm she unearths the geometric inner quality of the painting Work by Ford Madox Brown, which depicts a busy sceneo of Victorian civil life, celebrating the virtues of work in all its forms. The rich symbolism, interesting composition and strong narratives within this painting form exquisite patterns when carved out by Jenson. Furthermore, the complex figure composition exemplifies how Jenson challenges herself in making each new vessel progressively more detailed and finely carved than the last.

Manchester Art Gallery is famous for its Pre-Raphaelite paintings and Work by Ford Madox Brown is one of collection’s most iconic works. It also houses a nationally significant ceramic collection. The gallery blurs the boundaries between the fine and decorative arts, exploring the potential of the cross-pollination of ideas between artistic genres. Jensen, a ceramicist inspired by paintings, was a natural choice for a contemporary intervention in Manchester Art Gallery’s historic collection.

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