Axel Salto

Hostler Burrows, New York

Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2013

Unusual in Salto’s oeuvre for being unglazed on its exterior, this austere pot is Salto at his most archaic. It is like a foundation stone, on which the complex edifice of his polychromatic elaboration implicitly stands. The ancient feeling of the vase is due not only to its raw stoneware surface, but also its pattern, which resembles that of a corncob or a woven basket. What at first appears to be a regular and repetitive rhythm, though, proves on closer examination to pulse with variation. The piece was made in the same year that Salto published his key manifesto, Den Spirende Stil (“The Sprouting Style”) and corresponds to the description he gives there of the primary stage of his formal development. The gentle humps on the surface are metaphorical buds, ready to yield new growth.