“All Walks of Life: Meissen Porcelain Figures of the Eighteenth Century”

Dr. Vanessa Sigalas will guide the audience through a captivating exploration of 18th-century life in Saxony, Paris, London, and St. Petersburg, using Meissen porcelain sculptures from the Alan Shimmerman Collection in Toronto, Canada, as well as the Wadsworth Atheneum’s collection in Hartford, Connecticut. Renowned master modeler Johann Joachim Kaendler, in collaboration with his fellow modelers at Meissen, portrayed glimpses of daily existence, meticulously capturing even the minutest details. From the carefully arranged trinkets of a street vendor to the intimate script of a love letter and the culinary tools of a cook preparing a hare, Kaendler’s work unveils the richness of “All Walks of Life.”

The Alan Shimmerman Collection, with its emphasis on groups of criers (street sellers) and artisans, offers a fresh perspective on the inception, production, and dissemination of Meissen porcelain. Dr. Sigalas’ lecture is based on her recently published collection catalogue bearing the same title, providing an immersive journey into the intricate world of eighteenth-century European society as depicted through these masterfully crafted sculptures.

Sigalas holds a Dr. phil. in Art History from the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Germany.  She joined the Wadsworth Atheneum in 2011, As an art historian, Sigalas specializes in European art from the seventeenth to the first half of the twentieth centuries, especially eighteenth- and nineteenth-century German porcelain. One of her research interests is the connection between ivory and porcelain, particularly at the Dresden Court of Augustus the Strong (1670-1733). At the Wadsworth, she works with American and European decorative arts and sculpture from the ancient to the modern worlds, but also explores the collections of non-Western art.

Despite her deep love for books and archives, Sigalas has always enjoyed the hands-on work with objects. In 2013, she assisted with the Storage Renovation and Relocation Project, and in 2015 she was part of the team to reinstall the European art collections, where she assisted the curatorial team and led the installation team of decorative arts.

She has published in a variety of journals, exhibition catalogues, and books. Her latest book, All Walks of Life: A Journey with the Alan Shimmerman Collection (2022), focuses on Meissen porcelain figures from the eighteenth century. She has taken on the role of editor for several publications, with her most recent work being MORGAN—The Collector: Essays in Honor of Linda Roth’s 40th Anniversary at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, co-edited with Jennifer Tonkovich. Additionally, she served as the managing editor of the American Ceramic Circle Journal from 2015 to 2023. Sigalas has curated exhibitions in Germany and the US. Her most recent exhibitions at the Wadsworth include, in conjunction with director Matthew Hargraves, “Between Life & Death. Art and the Afterlife” (Fall 2023), as well as the community-focused and staff-curated exhibition, “Styling Identities: Hair’s Tangled Histories,” on view until August 2024.

Image: Pair of Figures of “Beggar Musicians,” German, Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, models by Johann Joachim Kaendler (1706–1775). Original year of modelling: c. 1736; beggar-woman reworked later. Date of porcelain paste: both c. 1730–65; date of decoration: both 18th century. Hard-paste porcelain. Man: Blue crossed swords mark on base; woman: no marks. Heights: man 5 ¼ in. (13.4 cm.); woman 5 1/8 in. (13 cm.). Model no. man: 918; woman: 915. Shimmerman Collection nos. MPBP_16 & 17.