Ceramic Attraction
The Popularity of Ceramics in Interiors
“The figure is a very important aspect of my work. It is not obvious but it is there. Some of them come from looking directly at young pregnant girls. They usually look absolutely gorgeous. And I wanted the pieces to have that fullness to them, that essence of carrying, without it being necessary to have water in them.” — Magdalene Odundo
Twentieth century and contemporary decorative ceramics — bowls, vases, plates and pitchers — have become increasingly popular both with interior designers and the general public at large. For years there have been comedy sketches about breaking valuable Chinese for e.g. imperial Ming vases and their astronomical auction prices have been common knowledge; in 2010 an elegant 16-inch Chinese vase caught the eye of an expert after a modest semi-detached house in Pinner, north-west London, was cleared in the wake of the owner’s death. The Yamanaka Reticulated Vase — one of the finest examples of its kind — would become the most expensive piece of Asian art ever sold, as well as the world’s priciest objet d’art (excluding paintings and bronze sculpture) – creating a whirlwind of excitement after it was sold by provincial auction house Bainbridge’s for £53.1million. The vase, commissioned in the mid-eighteenth by the Qianlong Emperor, who ruled China from 1736 until 1795, was produced under the stewardship of Tang Ying (1682-1756), the creative supervisor of the Imperial kilns, who introduced pioneering techniques and elevated porcelain production to new heights (The £53 million sale eventually collapsed after the buyer — reportedly one of China’s ten wealthiest men — refused to pay; but two years later Bonhams negotiated a private sale to an anonymous collector for a reported price of £20–£25 million). Other than perhaps Picasso ceramics (1881-1973) (which are selling for extraordinary figures) one might not expect twentieth century works to fetch anywhere near such sky-high prices; yet in 2018 an understated vase by the late British potter Hans Coper (1920-1981) — an unloved present, kept in an old shoe box by its recipient — sold at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood in Exeter for £381,000, the highest price ever paid for a piece of modern and contemporary studio pottery. From Coper’s 1970s Cycladic series, the elegant shape was inspired by the highly stylised geometric forms typical of early Bronze Age Aegean figures; melding the ancient with the modern, abstract yet functional.
“Femme à nichons”, vase, glazed stoneware (1948) by Georges Jouve
“Untitled”, burnished and carbonized terracotta (1990) by Magdalene Odundo
Whilst Coper is a key figure in British pottery (though quite who his collectors are remains shrouded in mystery — with many pieces sold not to the buyers themselves, but to their agents), what this record price really reflects is that ceramic art is experiencing something of a boom. In recent years Ceramic Art London has been an unmitigated success, with snaking queues of visitors desperate to snap up pieces by top contemporary artists while they’re still affordable (typically prices range anywhere between £30 and £10,000). Traditionally there has been a division between art and craft at the level of institutional academia, with all its political implications; indeed some makers like to be known as “potters” whereas others prefer the term “ceramic artist”. Equally in recent years there has been a blurring of boundaries in the use of materials and techniques — something driven by artists and makers who are exploring and growing in their practices. In 1964, Rose Slivka (1912-2004), editor-in-chief of the influential Craft Horizons (now American Craft Magazine), unpacked her interpretation of craft — of the handmade object — in a special issue devoted to “The American Craftsman”. In her essay she identified three categories, “the artist-craftsmen, production craftsmen, production designers”, defining the former as “those who make one-of-a-kind objects of superb expressive quality”. This seems apt to describe the work of British studio potters like Coper and his teacher Lucy Rie (1920-1981) (both settled in Britain after fleeing the Nazis) who have particular artistic cachet in the UK due to their roots in middle Europe and ties to the Bauhaus movement. “Craft, particularly new, modern and contemporary craft is rightly taking centre-stage across so many creative platforms from fine art to design to architecture and interiors,” explains Isobel Dennis, Director at Collect art fair. “I believe the contemporary art world is now acknowledging the importance of contemporary craft.”
“Vase Deux Anses Hautes” (Vase with two high handles) (The Queen) (1953) by Pablo Picasso
Across the Channel, French ceramic artists have for a good many decades been popular not only with collectors but also with interior designers, with works by Georges Jouve (1910-1964), Pol Chambost (1906-1983) and Jacques Blin (1920-1995) seen frequently alongside (and atop) furniture by the likes of Pierre Jeanneret (1896-1967), Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) and Jean Prouvé (1901-1984); the numerous homes and interiors of art enthusiast and collector Emmanuel de Bayser are perfectly demonstrative of this particular aesthetic niche — an immaculate, gallery-like amalgam of high-end 1950s design, housed within a simple, yet meticulously crafted contemporary shell. Of course the popularity of mid-century style has found favour not only in Europe but across the globe, and especially amongst the low slung, palm tree strewn villas and mansions of LA. There in the City of Angels proponents of this laid back look, interior designers like Waldo Fernandez and, in particular, the mother-and-son design duo Tommy and Kathleen Clements, have racked up such star studded client lists — including Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, Bruno Mars, Jennifer Lawrence, Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo, Scooter and Yael Braun, as well as Kendall and Kris Jenner — that it has led to the proliferation of art laden, white painted, book strewn mid-century heavy homes seen splashed across the pages of magazines like Elle Decor and Architectural Digest, and in turn ad infinitum on Instagram and Pinterest.
Such editorially inviting interiors inevitably feature a smattering of fashionable — usually monotone — twentieth century ceramics; the best of which have become an almost prerequisite status symbol for those that wish to emulate this eclectically editorial LA style. This has in turn filtered down to designers and makers, with ceramicists like Danny Kaplan and Simone Bodmer-Turner producing contemporary pieces with a twentieth century flare. Of course Kaplan’s sophisticated ceramics manage to bridge the market, with his angular lamps — evocative of the work of Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) — appealing not only to the mid-century-modern-clique but also to the Jacques Grange (b. 1944) end of the market, i.e. those with a penchant for Jean-Michel Frank (1895-1941), Mattia Bonetti (b. 1952) and Francois-Xavier (1927-2008) and Claude Lalanne (1925-2019); a more rarefied world where elegantly refined and subtly decorated Art Deco designs by names like Primavera, Jean Besnard (1889-1958) and Emile Lenoble (1976-1940) et al tend to set pulses racing.
A Cycladic arrow form (1970) by Hans Coper, similar to that sold at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood
Whilst the prices of those pieces by the most desirable names is only on the up and up, beautiful twentieth century ceramics from lesser known makers and designers can still be picked up relatively cheaply; indeed there are a number of Bauhaus ceramicists whose work is still remarkably affordable — often for less than factory made high street offerings from stores such as Zara, H&M home, Anthropologie and West Elm. Smaller antique dealers and galleries are an excellent place to start for those looking to invest a reasonable amount in a collection — for e.g. Dorian Caffot de Fawes and Quindry always have a wonderful selection of twentieth pieces that won’t entirely break the bank. At a contemporary level there are potters at every price point with some of the most extraordinary pieces bridging the gap between ceramics and sculpture, with Kenyan-born Magdalene Odundo (b. 1950) (chancellor of the University for the Creative Arts) and Edmund de Waal (b. 1964) (perhaps best known for his installations of shelves of pale and delicate porcelain vessels) producing works that continue to break ground. The buzz around ceramics is — at least in part — due to an influx of younger collectors. With all of its positive environmental connotations there is increasingly an emphasis on buying less and buying better.
People are spending more on handmade objects that they really love rather than buying items that are mass-produced and disposable — and as with furniture, there’s an increasing appreciation of technique, materials and process. Indeed there’s something wonderful about feeling a connection to the maker through the tactility of a three dimensional ceramic object. Instagram is a key marketing tool for a younger generation of makers with the Danish-American artist and designer Eric Landon of Tortus Copenhagen, the “rock star” of ceramics — touring the world and posting to his 991,000 followers (Similarly a number of PR driven potters are even sending their wares to socially savvy lifestyle influencers to plug in their artfully styled Instagram-friendly interiors). Furthering the fashion/art overlap Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Spanish luxury house Loewe (who has in the past admitted to making personal budget cuts so as to facilitate his Bernard Leach (1887-1979) pottery obsession) has championed the annual Loewe craft prize, which showcases ceramic artists among other makers. Despite their ever increasingly popularity ceramics are still affordable to every level of collector, whether that be cheap mid-century ceramics from Kempton market or art pieces from the likes of Grayson Perry (b. 1960) and Yeesookyung (b. 1963) — the key thing of course is to buy what you love and not for investment.