Archive | Ceramics
Trompe l’oeil: Levine, Shaw, Leon
Pop Art: Lichtenstein, Haring, Volkov
“Pop Art looks out into the world. It doesn’t look like a painting of something, it looks like the thing itself.”[i] – Roy Lichtenstein Pop Art first broke onto the British art scene in the 1950s.[ii] Derived from Neo-Dada, it was the “brain-child” of a group of artists, writers, and architects who felt compelled […]
Bernard Leach Ceramic Teapot
“A potter is one of the few people left who uses his natural faculties of heart, head, and hand in balance…”[i] — Bernard Leach, 1961 Bernard Howell Leach is considered the most influential potter of the twentieth century. He left an irrefutable mark with his writings, teachings, prolific work in clay, and contributions at the potteries […]
Bird Tea Set by Édouard-Marcel Sandoz and Theodore Haviland, Limoges
This tea set, designed by Édouard-Marcel Sandoz, is one of many tableware sets designed by popular artists for the porcelain manufacturing company Theodore Haviland, Limoges. Haviland History Theodore Haviland, Limoges was one of several porcelain manufacturing and retail companies operated by the Haviland family in the 19th and 20th centuries. The company first called Haviland […]
Ron Meyers Face Teapot
I remember being captivated by Ron Meyers’ cups, platters, and covered jars as a child. The imagery that danced across the surface of his forms stirred my imagination. Initially his fish, rabbits, birds, and gestural human faces grabbed my attention, but then the forms themselves, alive and expressive, made an impact. Over the past fifty […]
Black Basaltes Swan Teapot
This stoneware teapot is attributed to Sowter & Company, an early 19th century pottery manufacturer. Sowter & Company—also called Mexborough Old Pottery—was one of several pottery companies in the Don Valley area of Yorkshire, England at the time. Other contemporaneous Yorkshire potters include Rock Pottery (also called Mexborough Pottery or Mexbro’ Pottery), Swinton Pottery, Don […]
Henry’s Teapots
These two works of art were both acquired from the estate of the influential art critic, historian, and collector Henry Geldzahler (1935-1994). Geldzahler began his career as a student in the Harvard Fine Arts Department, but left before completing his doctorate to become a curatorial assistant at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in […]
Candle Teapot
This teapot is an example of Yixing (also spelled YiXing) pottery, from the Yixing region in the Jiangsu province of China. This particular teapot, made of dark teal, unglazed stoneware in the form of a melting candle, won a prize at the International Ceramics Competition in Mino, Japan. It is stamped with a maker’s mark […]
Park Hall Teapot
This teapot was decorated by the renowned porcelain painter William Billingsley. Billingsley began his career working for Royal Crown Derby, though later worked for many other manufacturers, as well as his own pottery factory at one time, and his own decorating business in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire for a time as well. Billingsley was especially well known […]