That ceramics is experiencing a major revival is now undeniable. Workshops are popping up everywhere, courses seem to have replaced socks as one of the most popular Christmas gifts, and contemporary art is increasingly embracing this medium, with collectors and artists eager to explore its expressive potential.
Its allure has captivated visual artists such as Grayson Perry, Edmund de Waal, Takuro Kuwata, and Betty Woodman, as well as prominent figures from other creative fields—from fashion designers like Jonathan Anderson for Loewe to actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Seth Rogen.
And now, joining this list, is Nick Cave.
What started as a desire to create a single small devil figure as a vehicle for an intense red glaze became a journey towards some kind of absolution from a series of shattering events
Nick Cave
A multifaceted artist, moving between music, words, and images
Nick Cave hardly needs an introduction. Born in 1957 in Warracknabeal, Australia, he has traversed music, literature, and cinema with an unmistakable approach. After studying painting at the Caulfield Institute of Technology in Melbourne, he abandoned academia to pursue music. From his early days with The Birthday Party (1973–1983) to international success with Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (since 1984), his work has consistently balanced the sacred and the profane, passion and torment—a duality that resurfaces in the glazed ceramic series "The Devil – A Life," which for the first time transforms this tension into a visual and three-dimensional narrative.
Nick Cave as a Sculptor: "The Devil – A Life"
After debuting at Xavier Hufkens gallery in Brussels and participating in an exhibition at the Sara Hildén Art Museum in Finland, the series is now on display at Museum Voorlinden for the first museum exhibition entirely dedicated to Cave. From December 14, 2024, to March 16, 2025, the museum presents the full sequence of seventeen ceramic figures, which have recently become part of its permanent collection.
"The Devil – A Life" traces the Devil’s journey from birth to death, unfolding as a kind of secular via crucis. Rather than portraying him as a purely evil entity, Cave presents the Devil as a figure embodying human contradictions and vulnerabilities. From innocence to experience, from defiance to downfall, his path mirrors that of any individual, wavering between mistakes and triumphs, damnation and redemption. The entire project takes the form of a moral tale—yet without rigid judgments, leaving room for ambiguity and introspection.
The inspiration behind the Staffordshire Flatback Figurines
The aesthetic reference lies in the traditional Staffordshire flatback figurines, popular statuettes that adorned English homes in the 19th century. With their stylized simplicity and narrative function, these Victorian ceramics are Cave’s chosen medium to tell a story through images—one that offers a sense of absolution to all, without ever forgoing a touch of irony.
Staffordshire flatbacks are traditionally mass-produced figurines made for the mantelpiece. In Nick Cave’s hands, however, they become art. This deeply personal series of sculptures shows, in powerful colours and compositions, the story of the devil as an everyday man, shaped by triumph, grief and remorse
Suzanne Swarts, Director Voorlinden
Exhibition: The Devil – A Life Where: Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands Dates: December 14, 2024 – March 16, 2025
