Emmanuel Boos


Born in 1969. Lives and works in Saône-et-Loire (Burgundy).
emmanuelboos.info
sevresciteceramique.fr/manufacture/les-artistes/artist/emmanuel-boos.html

TRAINING

2012 Awarded a Ph.D. in England Thesis title: "The poetics of glaze. Perception of depth on a glazed ceramic surface". under the joint direction of Emmanuel Cooper and Claire Pajaczkowska
2011 PhD, RCA, London (UK)
2000: Ceramics apprenticeship with Master Craftsman Jean Girel; 1994: Graduated from ESSEC Paris and the Mannheim Business School (Germany)


EXHIBITIONS

2026 (Solo exhibition) “Noir c’est noir,” Raisonné Gallery, NY (USA)

"Poetische Systeme" (with painter Günther Nosch), Gallery Marianne Heller, Heidelberg, D, Mar/Apr 2024
"Comme un Lego", JousseEntreprise, Paris, F, Oct/Nov 2023
"Impromptus", Showroom Peter Kammermann & Galerie H, Geneva, CH, Sep 2022
"Endlich wieder eine Manufaktur französischer Herkunft in der Kurpfalz", Einraumhaus, Mannheim, D, Sep/Mar 2021
2016-2019: 3 years at the Manufacture de Sèvres. Residency exit presentation, Showroom, Musée de la Céramique, Sèvres, F, Nov/Jan 2020

The poetics of glaze. Glazed ceramic surfaces and depth perception

Summary

"This research into the visual and aesthetic qualities of ceramic enamel through artistic practice explores its ability to elicit an impression of depth. Since depth based solely on perspectival illusion could not fully meet my artistic expectations, and the demands of this approach conflicted with some of my major artistic preoccupations, such as my interest in accidents and unpredictable material effects, I raised the hypothesis of a poetic dimension to depth, thus posing the research question for this project: "What is the poetic depth of ceramic enamel?"

Until now, research into enamels has focused on questions of materials science, craft practice, archaeology or art history, and optical depth has been the subject of studies into enamel microstructure. In tackling the aesthetic dimension of enamel, I'm moving away from these earlier investigations. As the aesthetics of ceramic enamel is a new field of research, with no established references, I have attempted to draw parallels with practices, theories and research in the field of literary poetry, even if by 'poetics' I refer to a quality that is not solely mediated by language and that goes beyond the literary field. I draw on Gaston Bachelard's concept of the material imagination through his poetics of natural elements, and on the concept of the transitional space developed by the British Independent Group psychoanalysts Donald Winnicott and Marion Millner.

My thesis is a multi-voiced dialogue between my artistic practice of enameling, theories and practices from the literary field and psychoanalytical concepts of material imagination and the transitional phenomenon."

Les Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, in collaboration with the C14 PARIS trade show and the Keramis center (BE), have this year launched a new collection devoted to scientific research on ceramics, and have decided to award a thesis prize every 2 years open to French-speaking candidates (FR, BE, CH, CA-QC), which aims to encourage - through support for the publication of the prize-winner's thesis by PUS - the emergence of scientific work on contemporary and current ceramics [1880 to the present day], whatever the native academic discipline. Arnaud Timbert, Director of the PUS, and Elisabeth Piot, Head of the Arts, Culture matérielle et Patrimoine library, are honored to present to :

Emmanuel Boos, a renowned French ceramic artist and student of Jean Girel, is preparing to publish an updated French version of his thesis research, which he conducted at the Royal College of Art under the supervision of Emmanuel Cooper and Claire Pajaczkowska. This research is titled: The poetics of glaze. Glazed ceramic surfaces and depth perception explores enamel’s ability to evoke a sense of depth. This dissertation falls within the field of research-creation, where it examines the hypothesis of a poetic dimension to the depth of enamel. Until now, research on enamels has focused on issues related to materials science, craftsmanship, archaeology, or art history, and optical depth has been the subject of studies on the microstructure of enamel; By approaching the aesthetic dimension of enamel through his own practice, Emmanuel Boos draws parallels with practices, theories, and research from other fields—such as philosophy and psychoanalysis—in order to examine the hypothesis of a poetic dimension to the depth of enamel.».

The publication of his thesis by Presses Universitaires du Septentrion will be presented at next year's Salon, along with a conference presenting this research in greater depth. And a new call for the Prize will be launched in 2027.