Barbara Nanning

Barbara Nanning (b. 1957, The Netherlands) is an artist whose practice explores the relationship between nature, material, form and light. Working across ceramics and glass, she has developed a distinctive visual language in which organic structures and precise geometries come together.

After graduating from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam in 1979, Nanning began her career as a ceramic artist. Her early work was characterised by sculptural vessels and forms, often in sand-coloured tones, combined with an experimental approach to colour. In the mid-1990s, she began working increasingly with glass, a medium that became central to her practice.

Nature is a continuous source of inspiration for Nanning. She studies crystals, jellyfish, flowers and micro-organisms, translating their structures, rhythms and patterns into sculptural forms. Through techniques including glassblowing, fusing and gilding, she combines traditional craftsmanship with innovative approaches to material and form.

Since 2001, Nanning has worked between Amsterdam and Nový Bor in the Czech Republic, where she collaborates with highly skilled glassmakers and craftsmen. This close relationship between artist and maker allows her ideas to develop through experimentation and the possibilities of the material.

Alongside intimate sculptural works, Nanning has realised numerous monumental projects and architectural commissions in the Netherlands and abroad. Her work brings together seemingly opposing qualities — tradition and innovation, Eastern opulence and Dutch restraint, freedom and structure — resulting in a distinctive body of work that moves between art, design and craftsmanship.

Her work is represented in 69 museum collections in the Netherlands and abroad, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Kunstmuseum Den Haag.

Education

• Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Ceramic Department, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Pierre Mestre, Ceramics, La Borne, France
• Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Monumental Department, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Collections

• Victoria and Albert Museum, London
• Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
• Musée National de Céramique, Sèvres
• Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki
• Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Seto
• Museum Bellerive, Zürich
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• The Philadelphia Museum of Art
• Kunstmuseum Den Haag
• Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
• Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
• Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
• Nationaal Glasmuseum, Leerdam
• Museum JAN, Amstelveen
• Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede
• Keramiekmuseum Het Princessehof, Leeuwarden