BREAKING #304

‘If you have not stood face to face with something, it has simply not truly been known by you.’

Nicole Ex

Column

February 2026

Nicole Ex

is a writer, art historian, and founder of See All This art magazine. Since 2020, she writes a weekly column for the BREAKING-the-week art newsletter.

Column

February 2026

This is what the press release said: ‘From Tuesday 27 January, the Musée Rodin welcomes the exhibition Grammaire des Formes: a week-long presentation that brings a selection of haute couture creations by Jonathan Anderson into dialogue with iconic designs by Christian Dior and ceramic sculptures by Magdalene Odundo.’

It doesn’t often happen that you feel like jumping out of your chair to catch the Eurostar, but this was one of those moments. It was the combination of the Musée Rodin, the title of the show, the very first haute couture collection by Dior’s new artistic director Anderson – responsible from 2025 onwards for both the men’s and women’s lines as well as haute couture – and the work of Magdalene Odundo.

The message came too late. I also didn’t have an official invitation. But I had to find out what had prompted Anderson to present the work of ceramicist Magdalene Odundo as inspiration. There is something about her simple vases: the shape, the material, the African, international and timeless quality, in black, brown and terracotta. I have simply never seen them in person.

When I watched videos of Anderson’s Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2026, I thought I understood the connection. But if you have not shared a space with something, stood face to face with it, it simply has not truly been known by you. I have no idea what the impact of a handmade Dior dress is when someone wears it to a party, no idea what presence Odundo’s vase radiates.

In reality, the first thing that confronts you is scale. How often is something larger or smaller than you imagined? The second is its aura – the energy of an object that enables it to dominate, or reveals it to be shy. To make up for it, I bought The Journey of Things (2019), the catalogue of Odundo’s exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield.

Another magnificent exhibition I had missed.