Edmund de Waal’s prose is beautiful – but Letters to Camondo is lifeless
The artist returns to the belle époque turf of The Hare with Amber Eyes, this time writing imaginary letters to a Jewish collector in Paris
Musee Nissim de Camondo, Paris, was the home of Comte Moise de Camondo
Credit: Christophe Delliere
In all its shades of meaning, “precious” is the adjective that inevitably attaches itself to the work of Edmund de Waal. His slender, elegant ceramics are artefacts of exquisite refinement, as preciously delicate as they are preciously valued, designed for contemplation behind vitrines rather than any practical use. Look, but please don’t touch, they insist; breathe deeply, enter a realm of Zen purity and be inspired to compose a haiku: or, as W S Gilbert’s Reginald Bunthorne enjoins his precious lady votaries, “Cling passionately to one another and think of faint lilies.”