The Potter’s Art

Description

The first ever book to provide a comprehensive history of British pottery, The Potter’s Art traces its remarkable development all the way from the rudimentary pots of the Middle Ages to the sophisticated art of today’s studio potters.

Beginning with the peasant potter, Garth Clark moves on to describe the development of style and fashion under the renowned industrialist Josiah Wedgwood. He also examines the work of the artist-potters William De Morgan and the Martin brothers, and the studio potters Bernard Leach and Lucie Rie. Focusing particularly on the distinctly human angle to the craft, the author brings the potters’ personalities to life by describing their working conditions, lifestyles and characters.

For all collectors and potters, this indispensable survey, with a bibliography, chronology and glossary, sheds new light on the history of British pottery. For anyone with a sense of aestheticism or a general interest in the arts, this is an absorbing introduction to perhaps the most fundamental artistic medium in the history of civilization.

Garth Clark is a leading authority on modern and contemporary ceramics, and is the author of some 30 books and more than 100 essays, reviews and articles on the subject. He founded the Ceramic Arts Foundation in 1979, and directs two galleries, in New York and Los Angeles, specializing in ceramic art.

‘The strength of the book is its blend of technical information and stylistic developments.’ (Crafts)‘Compulsively readable.’ (RSA Journal)

‘Handsome … superbly documented and an invaluable encyclopedia of the British potter’s art.’ (Morning Star)
 
‘Essential reading for those who are interested in pottery.’ (Scotland on Sunday)
 
‘An important, well-illustrated survey that traces the history of British pottery and speculates, intelligently, on its future.’ (Antiques Magazine)

‘When you’ve read this, and pored over the fabulous photographs, the progress of ceramics in Britain from the Bronze Age to the post-modernists will make perfect sense.’ (BBC Homes and Antiques)