Brother Daniel

Daniel de Montmollin (Frère Daniel) (born August 27, 1921 in Saint-Aubin , Canton of Neuchâtel , Switzerland ) is a founding member of the ecumenical Community de Taizé . He is a ceramist , poet and philosopher . He is best known for his ceramics, especially his pioneering work in the field of stoneware and glazes made from vegetable ash . His literary and philosophical work deals with the border area between nature, art and science. His work had a significant impact on 20th century ceramics in French-speaking countries. He lives and works in Taizé to this day.

Life

Stoneware from the workshop in Taizé with glazes developed by Daniel de Montmollin

In 1942 de Montmollin joined the nascent Communauté de Taizé . Four years later he completed his theology degree. In 1949 he came across the pottery trade by chance in Alex Kostanda's workshop in Cluny . He gave him a brief introduction to working with the potter's wheel. In 1952 de Montmollin also met Philipe Lambercy. This taught him the calculation of glazes. That was the beginning of a long-term joint reflection on the basics of the pottery trade. Four years after this encounter, de Montmollin switched from faience to stoneware . Antoine de Vinck shows him his French translation of " A Potter's Book " by Bernard Leach .

Publications

De Montmollin's first publication appeared as Le Poème Céramique (ceramic poem), under the title “La Poterie” (The Pottery), Editions Robert Morel, in which the Célébration de la Pierre (Festival of Stone) also appeared. Another work he published in 1967 with Le Chant de la Huppe (The Song of the Hoopoe) in the Presses de Taizé. There, in 1973, Par l'Eau et le Feu - un itinéraire de potier (Of water and fire - the path of a potter) was laid. A year later, his Poème Céramique (ceramic poem) was reissued, and in 1976 L'Art de Cendres - émaux de grès et cendres végétales (The Art of Ashes - Stoneware Glazes and Plant Ash) was published in the Presses de Taizé.

In 1987 stoneware glazes appeared in the Revue de la Céramique et du Verre (magazine for ceramics and glass), in 1990 he published Le Secret partagé (The revealed secret), to which the Eloge de l'Emprinte was another contribution in the Revue de la Céramique et du Verre 1993 (magazine for ceramics and glass) followed. De Montmollin brought out another work in 1996 with Le Chapeau du Diable (The Devil's Hat) at the Center Jurassien du Patrimoine.

In the new millennium, the Swiss published La face cachée de la terre (The hidden face of the earth) in 2004 and a year later Le Saut de la Carpe (The leap of the carp).

Important exhibitions

De Montmollin's first major exhibition was held in 1964 on contemporary master potters at Château de Ratilly .

A show on handicrafts followed in 1980 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris . Also in France, in Sèvres in the national ceramics museum, he presented an exhibition of five contemporary ceramists: Bayle, Ben Lisa, Champy, Girel, de Montmollin. Terres de France was an exhibition in the Netherlands in 1986. His exhibition East-West also took Montmollin to Seoul in South Korea . Also important: the Europe of the ceramists in the Center culturel de l'Yonne in Auxerre. From 1980 to 1998 de Montmollin also had regular solo exhibitions at the Artisanat Réalité gallery in Paris.

In the new millennium, the Swiss exhibited in the Musée de Sarreguemines (Saargemünd) in Lorraine , in Troyes in 2003 on contemporary European ceramics, the following year in Toucyin at the former post office and in 2005 in the Geneviève Godard gallery in Lille . In 2006 he showed a retrospective and a retrospective of his works under the title “The career of a workshop” at the Musée du Florival in Guebwiller in Alsace . In the same year de Montmollin also visited the HWK Düsseldorf in Germany .

literature

• Modern ceramics from France: 1970 to 2000. From the Kermer collection. Exhibition cat. Theodor-Zink-Museum / Wadgasserhof, Kaiserslautern , October 11, 2014 to February 15, 2015. Series of publications by the Theodor-Zink-Museum, ed. on behalf of the Department of Culture of the City of Kaiserslautern by Jens Stöcker, issue 29 [Texts: Jens Stöcker; Marlene Jochem; France Kermer ; Wolfgang Kermer ] Kaiserslautern 2014, ISBN 978-3-936036-38-1 , cat. 106, 107, 108, color ill. Pp. 9, 32, 33
• Céramique française 1970–2000: Donation France et Wolfgang Kermer , Sarreguemines, Édition Musées de Sarreguemines, 2018, ISBN 978-2-91375-924-4 , pp. 90–91, color illus.
• Daniel de Montmoulin, Le secret partagé, Editions La Revue de la Céramique et du Verre, 1990, texts: Philippe Lambercy, Daniel de Montmoullin, Pierre Piganiol, photographs: Raymond Sauvaire

Web links

• "Daniel de Montmollins' adventures as a potter"
• Report by Daniel de Montmollin on the first years of the Taizé Community ( Memento of December 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• Daniel de Montmollin in the Galerie de l'Ancienne Poste (Toucy, Yonne department, Burgundy, France.)