Beate Kuhn (1927–2015) was a German sculptor known for her rhythmic ensembles of deconstructed, ceramic forms such as discs, cylinders, cones, and spheres. She also channeled beautiful and sublime aspects of nature with formal allusions to succulents, seeds, mushrooms, and invertebrate animals. Like the atonal music she favored, Kuhn’s sculptures were both alluring and disquieting. For six decades she worked in the village of Düdelsheim, outside Frankfurt, in commune with fellow artists. Admired in Germany, her work is little known in the United States. This exhibition introduces American audiences to Kuhn’s visually arresting creations in clay.

Beate Kuhn is organized by Rachel Delphia, Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator of Decorative Arts and Design