|
|
| From a very
early age I was fortunate enough to be surrounded
by superb examples of British pottery. The forms
of Bernard Leach, Hans Coper, Lucie Rie and especially
Bow pottery have had a heavy influence on the types
of functional forms that I now make. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bernard Leach
is, without a doubt, the best known and most
prominent of British studio potters. His friendship
with Shoji Hamada and his shuttling between
Japan and St Ives are well documented.
Born in Hong Kong, he was taken almost immediately
to Japan by his grandparents. He came to England
at the age of ten for schooling.
After a brief spell working as a clerk for
the Hong Kong and Shanghai bank he attended
The London School of Art. |
|
|
In 1909 he
returned to Japan to teach etching which he
had himself learnt from Frank Brangwyn, and
while there married for the first time.
After ten years of life in the East - both
Japan and China - he met Hamada. The following
year they both came to England and set up
the Leach Pottery at St Ives.
The years between the wars were hard for Leach;
he spent much time re-building kilns, experimenting
with materials, travelling - but not achieving
much critical or financial success. |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
It was not until after the Second World
War, and the publication of his first book,
A Potters' Book, that he became widely recognized
as a master in his field.
He continued to pot until 1972, but did
not stop his ceaseless travelling. The Victoria
and Albert Museum in London held an exhibition
- The Art of Bernard Leach - in 1977, and
in 1979 he died.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hans Coper,
the most influential potter of the second
half of the twentieth century, was born in
Germany in 1920. He came to England in 1939
and was arrested the following year, as an
alien, and sent to Canada.
A year later he was returned to England, and
had a short career in the British Army.
After the war he met Lucie Rie and worked
with her for thirteen years. In 1958 he became
a naturalised British subject, and in 1959
set up his own studio in Hertfordshire.
He returned to London in 1963 and over the
next twelve years taught at the Camberwell
School of Art and the Royal College of Art,
both in London.
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
In 1967 he moved to Frome in Somerset. Coper
died in 1981 after a seven-year illness.
Many fine potters owe much to Hans Coper's
teaching, not least of whom is Lucie Rie,
although few have copied his style. He will
be remembered as much for his ability to improve
the skills of others as for the style, originality
and outstanding quality of his own work. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lucie Rie
was born Lucie Gomperz in Vienna in 1902.
Between the ages of 20 and 26 she studied
at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule (craft/technical
school). On leaving the school she married
Hans Rie - a marriage that lasted only fourteen
years. Her success came early, and by the
time she was thirty her work had been exhibited
in France and Italy as well as her native
Austria. Her work showed a strong feeling
for form; like many other fine potters she
was always aware that the nature of the pot
was dictated by its purpose. In 1938 she came
to England to escape the Nazis. The following
year she met Bernard Leach and was somewhat
confused by his well-meaning criticism of
her work.
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
During the war years her sense of purpose
seemed to wane, but it was fully restored
in 1946 when the young Hans Coper (also a
fugitive from the Nazi regime) came to work
with her at her London studio. Coper's intended
function was to cast decorative buttons for
Rie to glaze, but she soon spotted his emerging
genius which rekindled her own enthusiasm
and confidence. Coper worked with her until
1958.
In 1948 Lucie started working in stoneware
and porcelain rather than her customary earthenware.
|
|
|
In the following
years her work was exhibited very widely -
in both solo exhibitions and doubling with
Hans Coper. The pair benefited by promotion
from Cyril Frankel, the ceramics expert and
critic.
Rie recieved many honours, becoming an OBE
in 1968, a CBE in 1981 and a Dame in 1991.
She was much written about, and was the subject
of a BBC film. Since her death in 1995 there
has been no loss of interest in her work,
and she is frequently the subject of prestigious
exhibitions. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Also
known as 'New Canton' (a name which
occurs on rare inkwells), this factory
was established in the 1740's and with
the Chelsea works, one of the earliest
British manufacturers of transparent
porcelain.
The Bow factory was the largest porcelain
factory in mid-18th century Britain.
It specialised in Oriental-style wares,
like this tureen. Typical features of
most Bow pieces are that they are made
form a white chalky paste, and that
they have a greenish glassy glaze.
Bow specimens, especially the pre-1760
articles, are rare and desirable, but
many pieces do not bear a factory mark. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
In
a Staffordshire churchyard in 1739,
a six-year-old boy watched his father
buried in a pauper's grave. At seven
he was apprenticed to a nearby pottery.
It's hard to imagine a more unpromising
beginning, yet his name was to become
world famous, synonymous with finest
in ceramic art.
The boy was Josiah Spode I who would
soon prove himself to be one of the
technological and marketing geniuses
in the history of ceramics.
By 1770 he acquired his own factory
in Stoke-on-Trent where Spode is still
produced today. He soon began to demonstrate
his technical skills and creativity
as well as an unusual instinct for what
his customers wanted.
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
Over the next thirty years Spode revolutionized
the English ceramics industry. By perfecting
the technique of transfer printing on
earthenware from hand-engraved copper
plates, he made the commercial production
of lower-cost, consistent-quality wares
possible. It was an overnight sensation
and was quickly adopted by other English
potters.
Spode was the first to recognize
the potential of North America when
he appointed the Hudson's Bay Company
as his agent. Immediately after the
Revolutionary War, Spode appointed
agents in the major American cities.
By the turn of the century North America
was Spode's largest customer and has
remained so ever since. Consequently
Spode has been unusually sensitive
to American tastes.
|
|
|
|
By the 18th century, continental
porcelain was the rage among the ladies
of the manor; however, English clays
would not produce a body as white
as these. In his search for a comparable
body, Josiah Spode in 1797 discovered
the formula for Fine Bone China. Its
brilliant whiteness and delicate translucency
far surpassed any continental porcelain
and inspired new standards of artistry,
skill and finish. Spode I did not
live to see his most famous discovery
brought to market by his son, Spode
II.
Spode shapes trace their lineage to
the classic forms of Georgian silver.
When the rich surface decoration for
which Spode is so famous is added,
the patterns have a uniqueness and
character unequaled by any other.
Spode received the first of its Royal
Warrants in 1806 and continues to
supply Royal families to this day.
From generation to generation, Spode
has been handed down by families and
collectors who appreciate the joy
of owning the original. And so it
is today.
|
|
 |
|
|
| Return
to top |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
