Monumental Figural Jar IV

2022
Carboniferous Shale
187 x 57 diam cm | 73.6 x 22 diam in.

180kg | 396lbs

Julian Stair is one of the UK’s leading potters. Since 1982, he has exhibited internationally and his work is held in over 30 public collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum, UK; The British Museum, UK; Museum of Arts and Design New York, USA; Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Japan; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Netherlands; Kolumba Museum, Germany; Grassi Museum, Germany; and The Fitzwilliam Museum, UK. His recent solo exhibitions include Art, Death and the Afterlife, Sainsbury Centre UK, 2023; Equivalenze, Fondazione ICA Milano, Italy, 2019; Equivalence, 2018 and Quotidian, 2014-15, both at Corvi-Mora Gallery, UK; the UK touring exhibition Quietus: The Vessel, Death and the Human Body, at MIMA, National Museum of Cardiff, Winchester Cathedral, and Somerset House between 2012-14, and Manchester Cathedral, 2016. Julian’s work was recently exhibited in the Gallery’s group ceramic show Earthly Bodies in 2024.

Julian's work with clay revolves around a deep recognition of the social and material importance of the pot, as well as its enduring cross-cultural presence throughout history. His works often convey a quiet yet powerful seizure of space, re-contextualizing domestic and familiar forms towards large-scale sculptural vessels. Julian has also created ceramic artworks that commemorate and memorialise the body after death. His funerary ware, cinerary jars, and monumental life-size sarcophagi offer an arresting and contemporary perspective on enduring and universal themes such as life and death.