You might think an exhibit of 260 teapots would be just the thing for your grandmother’s next visit. These aren’t your average teapots, though; your grandma just might raise her eyebrows in shock. They’re all dressed up with no tea to pour, and should please collector and art aficionado alike.
“The Artful Teapot,” currently at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, ranges from beautifully crafted and more traditional, functional-looking teapots, such as those from the Mad Hatter Tea Party collection, to wacky sculptures where “the teapot form presides as a Platonic idea.” Those on display are only a small selection from eccentric duo Sonny and Gloria Kamm’s collection of over 6, 000.
Combining the teapot form with seemingly incongruous objects lets us see the teapot as art rather than humble domestic mainstay. For example, Michael Lucero’s “Female Roman Statue, Reclamation Series” combines a typical Roman statue with a bright orange teapot as a head, something like a postmodern elephant god. And you’d never think teapots could be racy until seeing Paul Dresang’s “Bag,” a teapot dressed up in a black leather purse, complete with a chunky zipper.
Constance Roberts doesn’t bring the teapot any closer to the kitchen with her pun-loving “Var-I-E-Tea.” The teapot is surrounded by wooden sculptures bearing names like “Vanitea,” “Serenitea,” and “Obscenitea.” The last is attached to a miniature porn mag and a triple-X videotape.
The raciest of the bunch, though, are the anthropomorphized teapots. No matter how prim and proper they try to be, it’s difficult to avoid that phallic spout. Nowhere is this more evident than in Rose Misanchuck’s “Blue Boy” and “Pinkie.” Ironically, the pink lady is proudly erect, while the blue boy doesn’t have much steam in his spout.
Given photographer Cindy Sherman’s penchant for the grotesque and exaggerated, I was disappointed to see her tame pink porcelain teapot. But it’s one of her ironic impersonations: a self-portrait, Sherman’s trademark, featuring her disguised as the prim Madame Pompadour. Pompadour, Louis XV’s official mistress, may have only shared the King’s bed for five years or so, but parlayed that into a title, vast influence, and now a teapot homage.
Kasimir Malevich shows teapots can even be political with his “Suprematist Teapot and Three Cups.” The Russian artist founded the Suprematist movement, which sought to free art from the burden of the object. When critics complained his teapot didn’t pour well, he replied, “It is not a teapot, but the idea of one.” Similarly, Michael Cohen’s “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” takes Magritte’s painting a step further. While Magritte used ironic titles to show the image isn’t the same thing as the object, Cohen’s pipe isn’t a pipe at all, but (you guessed it) a teapot.
It may not be the greatest pickup line if you’re hoping for a date, but bring a friend and catch these teapots at the Gardiner until May 25.
Photograph by Simon Turnbull
