Acquired directly from the artist and gifted to the present owner, circa 1980
Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, and their Pupils: A Selection of Contemporary Ceramics illustrating their Influence, exh. cat., Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 1990, p. 29 for a similar example
Tony Birks, Lucie Rie, Yeovil, 1994, pp. 201, 221 for similar examples
Austrian • 1902 - 1995
Dame Lucie Rie studied under Michael Powolny at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna before immigrating to London in 1938. In London she started out making buttons for the fashion industry before producing austere, sparsely decorated tableware that caught the attention of modernist interior decorators. Eventually she hit her stride with the pitch-perfect footed bowls and flared vases for which she is best-known today. She worked in porcelain and stoneware, applying glaze directly to the unfired body and firing only once. She limited decoration to incised lines, subtle spirals and golden manganese lips, allowing the beauty of her thin-walled vessels to shine through. In contrast with the rustic pots of English ceramicist Bernard Leach, who is considered an heir to the Arts and Crafts movement, collectors and scholars revere Rie for creating pottery that was in dialogue with the design and architecture of European Modernism.
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