The Art of the Studio Potter

Four graduated jugs by Alison Britton
Four graduated jugs by Alison Britton

This week I am returning to ‘The Bishop Otter Art Collection: A Celebration’ exhibition at Chichester University to rediscover their remarkable British Studio Pottery.

A Bernard Leach stoneware jug
A Bernard Leach stoneware jug

The collection includes Modern British paintings as well as studio ceramics, sculpture and tapestries. Visiting professor Gill Clark explains the philosophy behind the collection “Sheila McCririck and the Bishop Otter College Principal Betty Murray founded the collection in the years after the Second World War. They both believed in the civilising influence of art and the educative value of its ability to challenge.” With this philosophy behind the collection it is un-surprising that the Bishop Otter teaching college should have also collected the work of artisan, art potters.

Britain led the world in the field of studio ceramics in the 20th century.

The British ceramics tradition is tied up with the vernacular. From medieval times its production has been widespread and diverse.

The artisan artist is at work in studio ceramics. Form, colour and decoration come together creating objects which are not only beautiful but, very often, useful as well. This is very much in the tradition of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement.

A Lucie Rie stoneware bottle
A Lucie Rie stoneware bottle

Bernard Leach (1887-1979) is considered to be the most influential potter of the 20th century. He was born in Hong Kong and lived in Japan and Singapore. The Japanese tradition of artisan artists was fading when Leach decorated his first pot there in 1909. In 1920 he returned to England with the Japanese potter, Shoji Hamamda. Bernard Leach was persuaded to set up his workshop in St Ives. His lectures and writing would have a profound influence on a generation of British potters. Gill Clark points out that Norah Braden was the college’s first specialist pottery tutor and that she had been a pupil of Bernard Leach. His work is represented in the collection by the beautiful stoneware jug seen here.

Bernard Leach was initially critical of the work of Lucie Rie (1902-1995) but they would become great friends. In contrast to the influences of the rustic folk tradition and Chinese Sung apparent in Bernard Leach’s work Rie’s pots have a metropolitan, modernist quality. She enjoyed turning on the potter’s wheel but despite her remarkable control her pots never seem tight or mechanical. The beauty of her vases and their exceptional form cause your heart to quicken. It is readily apparent to the eye why she transformed modern ceramics.

Other studio ceramic gems in the collection and exhibition include the Sussex based ceramicist, Eric Mellon’s (1925-2014) ‘Horse and Rider’ dish. His years of research and experimentation into ash glazes brought him international recognition both as an artist, ceramicist and scientist. For Eric his art was his calling and vocation.

An Eric James Mellon ‘Horse and Rider’ dish
An Eric James Mellon ‘Horse and Rider’ dish

Alison Britton’s (b.1948) sharp-edged clay jugs seem to depict different facets of a landscape which in turn include human figures, trees, fish and insects. Their decoration has an immediacy reflecting Britton’s spontaneous method of drawing in response to the asymmetric planes of the jugs.

‘The Bishop Otter Art Collection: A Celebration’ runs until 9th October 2016 at the University of Chichester Otter Gallery and Pallant House Gallery. Gill Clarke has published an insightful accompanying book about the collection and its formation which is on sale at both venues. For more information and opening times go to www.pallant.org.uk and www.chi.ac.uk/current-exhibitions/bishop-otter-collection-celebration.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

A Postcard from Provence

The Roman Les Antiques at Glanum in Provence
The Roman Les Antiques at Glanum in Provence

Cicadas play in the bright sunshine as we rest beneath the deep lavender blue of the Provençal sky. Provence, as much an idea as a place, has gathered diverse peoples to her over millennia. Each have added to her richness and, in their turn, have been shaped by this remarkable land.

The ancient ruins of Glanum give voice to Caesar’s vast ghost whose shadow is all around. The Triumphal Arch and the Mausoleum of the Julii are known as Les Antiques. They would have stood on the edge of the Roman town. However Glanum pre-dates the Romans. It was the Celts who first built here to honour the healing waters, the gift of their God Glanis. The Greeks were also here and the Hellenic influence is visible in the town’s ruins.

Rupert Toovey visiting the St Paul Asylum where Vincent Van Gogh painted
Rupert Toovey visiting the St Paul Asylum where Vincent Van Gogh painted

Just an olive grove away is the St Paul Asylum where the Dutch Post-Impressionist artist, Vincent Van Gogh, painted the surrounding landscape and some of his most famous work including ‘The Irises’.

Market day in St Rémy de Provence
Market day in St Rémy de Provence

In the adjoining town of St Rémy de Provence people from many nations still gather. Their voices rise and fall in the heat of the market day. This celebration of life with its noise, colours and smells brings together local produce and souvenirs for the tourists. Away from the bustle of daily life we, with others, process into the cool stillness of the church of St Martin to light a candle and pray, remembering the people of Nice and the tragic murder of Fr. Jaques Hamel. All have been moved by the response of the French Muslims attending Mass across France. Amongst such momentous events the French people we speak to seem pleased and reassured that l’anglais are here despite the news of terrorism and Brexit.

The church of St Martin, St Rémy de Provence
The church of St Martin, St Rémy de Provence

The old town is encircled by cafés and restaurants shaded beneath the boulevards of plane trees. Outside the marvellous restaurant Decouvert we speak with an urbane American gentleman. Our conversation touches on the times we live in and our nations’ great friendship for which he thanks me.

Back at the villa the pool shimmers in the sunlight like a beautiful David Hockney. I sit in the shade beneath the canopy of fruiting vines and reflect upon how much we are viewed as an international nation by our friends in Europe and the broader world.

Great Britain, like Provence, is as much an idea as a place. We have gathered diverse peoples to our shores over millennia. Each have added to our nation’s richness and have, in their turn, been shaped by this remarkable land. I feel confident that our international outlook and place in the world will bless us as we go forward.

Against the song of the cicadas I raise a glass of rosé. My toast – “Wish you were here!”

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

Christopher Wood – a Sophisticated Primitive

Christopher Wood, ‘China Dogs in a St Ives Window, Pallant House Gallery
Christopher Wood, ‘China Dogs in a St Ives Window, Pallant House Gallery

A major exhibition on the artist Christopher Wood (1901-1930) has just opened at Chichester’s Pallant House Gallery. Curated by Katy Norris, it explores the complex life and importance of this ‘sophisticated primitive’.

Katy Norris has delivered an exemplary exhibition which highlights the influence of continental artists on Wood and his pivotal position in the Modern British Art Movement as he navigated a path between the representational art of the Victorian and Edwardian periods and the new abstraction of the 1930s.

The exhibition charts the chapters of this talented artist’s all too short life.

Christopher Wood, ‘Self-Portrait, 1927’, Kettles Yard, University of Cambridge
Christopher Wood, ‘Self-Portrait, 1927’, Kettles Yard, University of Cambridge

The twenty year old Christopher Wood arrived in Paris in 1921 where he met Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and others. He was also influenced by the Post-Impressionists including Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Rousseau. He wrote to his mother in 1922 explaining how these artists endeavoured to interpret their subjects as though ‘through the eyes of the smallest child who sees nothing except that which would strike them as being the most important.’ Seeking this essential view of the word lends an intensity to his work.

Christopher Wood’s first trip to Cornwall in 1926 affirmed the artist in him. It was during this visit that he painted one of his most iconic and finest pictures titled ‘China Dogs in a St Ives Window’. This playful painting brings together the naïve style which Wood had developed in Paris and a playful lyricism which imparts his sense of new-found freedom.

The quintessentially English scene is inspired by Victorian Staffordshire ceramic dogs. The Spaniels are framed by the chair and window. The composition leads our eye to the steamer and lighthouse in this primitive, artistic interpretation of St Ives harbour.

Christopher Wood depicts himself in a harlequin-patterned jumper in his 1927 Self – Portrait. There is an introspective intensity of emotion apparent in his face as we observe him. It is as though we are looking out of the canvas upon which he stands to paint. The influence of the untrained, candid representations of Post-Impressionist, Henri Rousseau can be seen here.

In the summer of 1928 Christopher Wood returned to St Ives with the artist Ben Nicholson. Whilst there he discovered the work of the self-taught painter and former fisherman, Alfred Wallis. Wood took on Wallis’ iconography depicting the Atlantic fishing industry and coast. Wood’s brushwork appears intuitive and spontaneous.

Christopher Wood, ‘Harbour in the Hills, University of Essex
Christopher Wood, ‘Harbour in the Hills, University of Essex

Wallis’ influence is particularly apparent in ‘Harbour in the Hills’. Painted in 1928, the sea is depicted as swirling bands of light greys and charcoals which contrast with the intensity of the green hills.

In his youth in Paris Christopher Wood had become addicted to opium. By now his life oscillated between his intense social life and solitary periods of painting.

Christopher Wood, ‘Dancing Sailors’, Leicester Arts and Museums Service
Christopher Wood, ‘Dancing Sailors’, Leicester Arts and Museums Service

In the summer of 1930 Christopher Wood painted his final series of some forty pictures at Treboul in Brittany over a period of six weeks. They depict an idealised view of these Breton seafarers, their customs and spirituality. This is captured in ‘Dancing Sailors’. Wood’s addiction lends a pulsating intensity to the painting.

Shortly after completing these works Christopher Wood tragically took his own life when he jumped in front of a train at Salisbury station.

Katy Norris’ superb monograph ‘Christopher Wood’ provides an insightful companion to this outstanding exhibition and is on sale at the Pallant House Gallery Bookshop.

At its heart the exhibition explores Christopher Wood’s pervading interest in Primitivism in the context of his life. It examines the international and domestic influences on his work, and how his faux-naïve style would contribute to the journey towards more progressive forms of modernism in art in 1930s Britain.

‘Christopher Wood: Sophisticated Primitive’ runs until 2nd October 2016 and brings together often rarely seen works – what a summer holiday treat!

For more information on current exhibitions, events and opening times go to www.pallant.org.uk or telephone 01243 774557.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

Celebrating the Bishop Otter Art Collection

Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979), Autumn Stream, undated, oil on canvas, © Jonathan Clark Fine Art, representatives of the artist’s estate, Courtesy Bishop Otter Trust, University of Chichester
Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979), Autumn Stream, undated, oil on canvas, © Jonathan Clark Fine Art, representatives of the artist’s estate, Courtesy Bishop Otter Trust, University of Chichester

This week I am in the company of Gill Clarke, author, Guest Curator and Visiting Professor at the University of Chichester’s Otter Gallery. The exhibition, ‘The Bishop Otter Art Collection: A Celebration’, is located at both the University of Chichester and at Pallant House Gallery.

It celebrates the vision of Sheila McCririck (1916-2001), whose foresight created a remarkable collection of 20th century British Art. She was supported in this purpose by the Bishop Otter College Principal Betty Murray (1909-1998).

Visiting Professor and Guest Curator Gill Clarke in the Otter Gallery
Visiting Professor and Guest Curator Gill Clarke in the Otter Gallery

Gill Clark explains the philosophy behind the collection “Both women believed in the civilising influence of art and the educative value of its ability to challenge. To achieve this works had to be on open display, in accessible places. They were unconcerned about spiralling values and they were irritated by the constraints of insurance and security.”

The economic austerity of the post Second World War period provided the backdrop to artistic activity and educational thought. The integration of the arts and education became part of the rebuilding of Britain and was central to the purpose of the collection at Bishop Otter.

I have long been a supporter of Chichester University’s Bishop Otter Collection of Modern British Art and remark how I have always been impressed by its coherence, breadth and quality. Gill responds “Sheila McCririck’s choices were not arbitrary. Judgement always had to take precedence over taste – she never lost sight of the fact that she was buying for an institution. Her unerring eye, together with a professional and academic approach, is at the heart of this collection”

There can be no doubt that these women were making bold aesthetic choices which showed remarkable foresight. All the works represented in the exhibition are from the collection. They include artists like Henry Moore, Stanley Spencer, Paul Nash, Walter Sickert and Ivon Hitchens, alongside leading post war abstract painters such as Peter Lanyon, William Scott, Paul Feiler, William Scott, Patrick Heron, William Gear, Terry Frost and Sandra Blow.

The first painting to enter the collection was Ivon Hitchens’ ‘Autumn Stream’. Ivon Hitchens always sought to capture the essence of an object or scene. This landscape has a musical quality in its sense of rhythm, tone and movement. Indeed he famously said ‘My paintings are painted to be listened to.’ Hitchens had moved to West Sussex in 1940 after the bombing of his Hampstead home. Writing to Betty Murray in January 1951 he said ‘if there is any outcry about the picture – then let me have it back. But… I hope it will meet with general approval and be a worthy send off for your scheme.’

Henry Moore (1898-1986), Figure on Square Steps, c.1957, bronze, Courtesy Bishop Otter Trust, University of Chichester
Henry Moore (1898-1986), Figure on Square Steps, c.1957, bronze, Courtesy Bishop Otter Trust, University of Chichester

Henry Moore was also an early supporter of the College Collection and its premise that teachers should be exposed to leading examples of modern art. Initially he lent a bronze, ‘Seated Figure’, which was purchased by the college. When it was stolen Henry Moore generously sold them ‘Figure on Square Steps’, seen here, at a very favourable price.

Paul Feiler (1918-2013), Boats and Sea, c.1952-3, oil on canvas ©The Artist’s Estate, Courtesy Bishop Otter Trust, University of Chichester
Paul Feiler (1918-2013), Boats and Sea, c.1952-3, oil on canvas ©The Artist’s Estate, Courtesy Bishop Otter Trust, University of Chichester

These and other stunning works can be seen at the University’s Otter Gallery.

The display at Pallant House Gallery allows the visitor to see paintings from the collection in the domestic setting of the old house. This gives some sense of how they must have appeared to students back in the 1960s. Amongst these is Paul Feiler’s jewel – like abstract titled ‘Boats and Sea’. Its heavy blocks of colours is characteristic of his work at this date.

‘What treasures we lived with’ and ‘Amazing to have wandered past this art whilst a student’ are just some of the comments from students of the time giving voice to the quality of this collection.

Gill Clarke concludes “It’s a wonderful collection and it has been a great privilege to work with it. What a legacy Sheila McCririck and Betty Murray have left for the University and broader community.’

‘The Bishop Otter Art Collection: A Celebration’ runs until 9th October 2016 at the University of Chichester Otter Gallery and Pallant House Gallery. Gill Clarke has published an insightful accompanying book about the collection and its formation which is on sale at both venues. For more information and opening times go to www.pallant.org.uk and www.chi.ac.uk/current-exhibitions/bishop-otter-collection-celebration.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

Will Britain’s Art Market Benefit from Brexit?

A product of global trade in the late 17th/early 18th Century, this Indo-Portuguese ivory inlaid table-top chest sold for £11,000 at Toovey's
A product of global trade in the late 17th/early 18th Century, this Indo-Portuguese ivory inlaid table-top chest sold for £11,000

The British art market accounts for some 65% of European Union (EU) art sales. Britain is one of the world’s three leading international market places for art and antiques. Despite this important global position the UK’s art market has been plagued by EU rules over the years.

This Art Nouveau Loetz iridescent glass Papillon vase with gilt mounts designed by Gustav Gurschner sold for £2,400 at Toovey's
This Art Nouveau Loetz iridescent glass Papillon vase with gilt mounts designed by Gustav Gurschner sold for £2,400

The British art and antique market is a significant sector in the UK economy. With total annual sales of around £9,000 million it employs more than 41,000 people.

Britain is the third largest art and antique market in the world with a 22% global market share. It uniquely attracts high value items from around the world for sale. These objects are sold, predominately at auction, to a global audience. In 2013 Britain imported £3,702 million of art and antiques and exported £4,498 million.

The EU’s approach to this global market could politely be described as rather introverted.

Jewellery is proving extremely buoyant post-Brexit. This diamond pendant realised £1,700
Jewellery is proving extremely buoyant post-Brexit. This diamond pendant realised £1,700

In the rest of the EU VAT is paid by the seller at auction on the price paid for a Lot as well as on the commission and expenses. This has impacted hugely on their competiveness in the global market. Whilst Britain was successful in maintaining that VAT should only be paid on commissions and services in the UK market, it fell victim to the EU VAT harmonisation programme which, in 1995, saw a VAT import duty imposed of 5%. The impact of this on the British market was softened when the EU conceded a temporary import scheme which allowed import VAT to be waived where an item was re-exported outside the EU within two years. But the famous and costly EU red tape remains around this issue. The post-Brexit government would do well to remove the anti-competitive EU import VAT which is so burdensome on a market highly dependent on international cross-border trade.

Reminding us of our nation’s mercantile past the George III silver Nelson commemorative rectangular vinaigrette realised £3,200
Reminding us of our nation’s mercantile past the George III silver Nelson commemorative rectangular vinaigrette realised £3,200

Perhaps more contentious is the Artists Re-sale Right (ARR) imposed by EU directive against the wishes of the British Government. It is based around the French ‘Droit de Suite’ system of royalties paid to an artist and their families for 70 years after the artist’s death when art is re-sold. I am unaware of any studies which highlight the degree to which artists have benefited. The EU claimed that it would persuade global markets to adopt the ARR scheme and create a level playing field. This, of course, did not happen. It is clear that the EU’s ARR has had an extremely detrimental effect on the British art market’s global competiveness against markets such as Hong Kong and New York. The British Art Market Federation (BAMF) commissioned a study of ARR’s impact. It highlighted that the UK’s global art market share in post-war and contemporary art (those area most affected by ARR) fell from 35% in 2008 to 15% in 2013. Whilst the relatively poor economic performance of Europe in comparison to the USA will account for part of this, ARR has had a serious impact on the UK’s global competiveness in this sector.

Some may be asking what relevance the global markets have in Sussex. But we have many leading manufacturing, technology and research companies operating in the global economy in our county. Toovey’s have invested hugely in the global art and antiques market creating tooveys.com as an international shop window with hundreds of thousands of potential buyers seeking to do business with us. Our sellers come from as far afield as Canada and buyers from across the world including China, India and the USA.

Prices were buoyant at Toovey’s first series of post-Brexit specialist auctions last week, especially in the sectors of jewellery, silver and collectors’ items, as illustrated by the objects shown here.

A post-Brexit Britain must look to secure its competitive advantage in those areas of our economy which are already performing with extraordinary competiveness and creativity in the global economy and deliver the promise of removing anti-competitive legislation, taxation and red tape. If it does then Britain’s place in the global art market can only grow.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.