The UBS Art Gallery

Exploring experimental scientific methods to improve ceramic products, Wedgwood’s technical advances set him apart from other traditional potters. Fearing theft of his innovative ideas, Wedgwood conducted his experiments in secret, working in a hidden basement laboratory and writing notes in code.

Vase, 1767–1780 Cream ware with cloudy agate glaze

Ewer for water (detail), late 19th century Majolica

Vase, mid 20th century Black and white jasper dip, engine turned

Cream colored earthenware plate from a dinner service for Catherine II ‘The Great’ of Russia, 1774. Courtesy of the Wedgwood Museum Trust, Staffordshire (England)

Wedgwood’s next major innovation was jasper ware. Designed as a material that would lend itself to ornamental objects, jasper ware’s glasslike surface could be colored in many hues and was the result of more than 10,000 experiments with clay and firing temperatures. The exhibition includes 40 pieces of jasper ware, including a mid 20th century vase made from dozens of pieces of black and white clay, with every joint flawlessly fused.

Rather than follow tradition and hire craftsmen to decorate his wares, Wedgwood sought out the most talented fine artists of his day to carve figures and paint pictures on his ceramics. The sculptor John Flaxman carved classical Greek gods in relief on vases and the realist painter George Stubbs decorated plates with English landscapes and animals.

	The Throwing Workshop at Etruria Line engraving, reproduced from Eliza Meteyard’s Life of Josiah Wedgwood, London, 1865

Josiah Wedgwood died in 1795 at the age of 65 and the business declined without his leadership. The rediscovery of Wedgwood jasper ware at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London returned the company’s ceramics to prominence. Frank Wedgwood, the grandson of Josiah, modernized the factory and hired new designers, including Émile-Aubert Lessore, a student of the neoclassical painter Ingres. In the 1960s, Wedgwood became a public company and today it is part of the global corporation Waterford Wedgwood.

Rather than follow tradition and hire craftsmen to decorate his wares, Wedgwood sought out the most talented fine artists of his day to carve figures and paint pictures on his ceramics. The sculptor John Flaxman carved classical Greek gods in relief on vases and the realist painter George Stubbs decorated plates with English landscapes and animals.

The Binghamton University Art Museum aims to educate and enrich the lives of members of the campus and community of the State University of New York at Binghamton. The Museum houses a collection of 3,000 objects from all major periods of art history including painting, sculpture, prints, photographs, drawings, glass, ceramic, metalwork, textiles and jewelry from Egypt, Greece, Rome, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The Museum pursues its educational mission by organizing exhibitions, documenting them with publications, and hosting lectures.

UBS has a longstanding and ongoing commitment to the support of the arts and culture. UBS sponsors four exhibitions each year in The UBS Art Gallery, located in the lobby of its building at 1285 Avenue of the Americas, New York City. Through its exhibition program, the Gallery offers non-profit arts and cultural organizations a midtown Manhattan exhibition space and the opportunity to introduce their programs to a new audience. The UBS Art Gallery enables many institutions to organize and mount exhibitions that might not otherwise be seen. These exhibitions encourage interest in the arts among the hundreds of employees, clients and members of the general public who pass through the UBS building each day.

UBS also has its own art collection. Recognized internationally as one of the most important corporate collections of contemporary art, The UBS Art Collection comprises more than 900 paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures by many of the world’s leading artists from 1950 to the present. UBS is proud of this heritage of collecting and embraces the Collection as a treasure to be shared with our employees, clients, shareholders and other individuals passionate about art through international loans and tours of selected works. To further share our Collection with the public, UBS provides permanent online access to works in the Collection, information on the artists and online exhibitions via an interactive web museum at www.ubs.com/artcollection.

UBS is one of the world’s leading financial firms, serving a discerning international client base. Its business, global in scale, is focused on growth. As an integrated firm, UBS creates added value for clients by drawing on the combined resources and expertise of all its businesses.

UBS is the leading global wealth manager, a top tier investment banking and securities firm, and one of the largest global asset managers. In Switzerland, UBS is the market leader in retail and commercial banking.

UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in 50 countries, with about 39% of its employees working in the Americas, 34% in Switzerland, 17% in the rest of Europe and 10% in Asia Pacific. UBS’s financial businesses employ some 80,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SWX Swiss Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).

List Collection of Contemporary Prints Organized by Lincoln Center
May 1 – July 25, 2008

Implant
Organized by The Horticultural Society of New York
August 7 – October 31, 2008

The American Circus from the Collections of the Ringling Museum of Art
Organized by the Eakins Press Foundation
November 13, 2008 – January 23, 2009

The UBS Art Gallery is located in the UBS Building at 1285 Avenue of the Americas (between 51st and 52nd Streets) in New York City. The Gallery is on the ground floor of the building and exhibition hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Admission is free.

**For recorded exhibition information: (212) 713-2885**