Team:
Dr. Zuzanna Sarnecka
Ariane Milicev M.A.
Duration: October 2024-September 2028
Art history tends to ignore the problem of technical failure which we know occurred in bronze casting or wood carving or painting on unstable surfaces. What if instead we begin to accept failure as a normal and indispensable part of the creative process? The AFIRE project proposes to integrate failure into the story of 16th-century art which to many is synonymous with artistic perfection. It will examine ceramics which constitute an ideal medium for the study of artistic failure because of the intricate technique and reliance on many variables. Failure was a real threat to the livelihood of artists, who were financially responsible for the material aspects of their work. The high risks involved in the production of ceramics enable us to understand the consequences of failure for makers, patrons and beholders.
The proposed project will focus on failures that occurred during the second firing of ceramics and thus irreversibly damaged the surface finish. They are tangible testimony to what did not work, although, thanks to the first firing, the vessel would have been usable. The AFIRE project will deal with three categories of failure that affect the art of ceramics: first the failure to secure access to appropriate raw materials, including the pigments for the glazes and suitable clay for modelling; secondly, the failure to ensure the right artmaking conditions, particularly for firing; thirdly the failures to master the entire process individually.
These causes of failure emerged from a preliminary analysis of neglected sources, for example, litigation between patrons and artists brought to Cracow from Italy in the sixteenth century to produce tin-glazed earthenware. These artists were unable to do so because the right raw materials were unavailable. From the analysis of various surviving pieces, failure also occurred because of the wrong firing conditions with high temperatures causing the overfiring of the clay body which prevented flawless glazing. In addition, archival records demonstrate that procedural errors caused artists to fail repeatedly, because their patrons were unaware that one craftsman could not master the entire process.
The AFIRE project will highlight the interconnectedness of Central Europe where from the 16th century we see patrons and artists striving to establish local production of tin-glazed earthenware at the highest level. The project seeks to create an overview of the types of technical failure across artistic workshops in areas considered peripheral by mainstream art history, areas as distant from each other as Lesser Poland, Moravia and Istria. Those areas were characterised by different geological conditions, political systems, economic potential, and religious practices. Selecting from ceramics which are now in museum collections, we will compare the differing ways in which works from the three regions were made and failed.
