WORK OF THE WEEK : Edmund de Waal, ‘heimkehr’, 2012

Edmund de Waal
heimkehr, 2012
32 thrown porcelain vessels in celadon and cream glazes in three black lacquer shelves with curved lead lining.
Each: 17 x 80 x 16 cm / 6 ¾ x 2ft 7 ½ x 6 ¼ in.
Overall: 57 x 80 x 16 cm / 1ft 10 ½ x 2ft 7 ½ x 6 ¼ in.

As with the infinite variety in white, in Edmund de Waal's use of black there is not one singular tone or shade, but a spectrum, heightened with the use of curved lead to line the three shelves. As the light moves, a spectrum of colours emerge on the surface of the lead, contrasting against de Waal's delicate porcelain vessels.

The title 'heimkehr', or 'homecoming', references the poem of the same name by Osip Mandelstam.

HOMECOMING
Osip Mandelstam

Snowfall, denser and denser.
dove-coloured as yesterday,
snowfall, as if even now you were sleeping.

White, stacked into distance.
Above it, endless,
the sleigh track of the lost.

Below, hidden,
presses up
what so hurts the eyes,
hill upon hill,
invisible.

On each,
fetched home into its today,
an I slipped away into dumbness:
wooden, a post.

There: a feeling,
blown across by the ice wind
attaching its dove- its snow-
coloured cloth as a flag.

HEIMKEHR
Osip Mandelstam

Schneefall, dichter und dichter,
taubenfarben, wie gestern,
Schneefall, als schliefst du auch jetzt noch.

Weithin gelagertes Weiß.
Drüberhin, endlos,
die Schlittenspur des Verlornen.

Darunter, geborgen,
stülpt sich empor,
was den Augen so weh tut,
Hügel um Hügel,
unsichtbar.

Auf jedem,
heimgeholt in sein Heute.
ein ins Stumme entglittenes Ich:
hölzern, ein Pflock.

Dort: ein Gefühl,
vom Eiswind herübergeweht,
das sein tauben-, sein schnee-
farbenes Fahnentuch festmacht.