Lucie Rie is an important figure in the collection at Kettle’s Yard. Jim and Helen Ede owned four bowls by Rie, acquired mainly during the early 1970s when there was a series of contemporary ceramics exhibitions held at Kettle’s Yard. Lucie Rie also visited Kettle’s Yard, describing it in a letter to Jim Ede as ‘a unique experience’ that ‘I shall never forget’.
If you visit the Kettle’s Yard house during our current exhibition, Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery, you might notice that these four pieces have been joined by a few additions. In recent years, two bowls by Lucie Rie, as well as a vase by Hans Coper, have been generously donated to the Kettle’s Yard collection, and are on temporary display in the house for the duration of the exhibition.
Lucie Rie, Bowl, 1960s
Stoneware with oatmeal glaze and manganese rim
Placed on a long table in the lower extension, this bowl is of a type that Lucie Rie explored repeatedly in the 1950s and early 1960s. Often referred to as her ‘salad’ bowls or ‘pouring’ bowls, the rim has been gently distorted after throwing to create an asymmetric form. This has been accentuated by the application of manganese oxide to the rim, creating a line of dark brown that bleeds and feathers into the matte glaze beneath. Rie would often squeeze and distort her pots after throwing them: the same technique is seen in another bowl displayed nearby, which Jim Ede nicknamed ‘The Wave’ due to its gently undulating shape.
Lucie Rie, Bowl, 1970s
Stoneware with turquoise volcanic glaze
This small bowl has a striking turquoise glaze with a pitted, bubbly texture. Lucie Rie called these her ‘volcanic’ glazes, an effect she achieved by adding silicon carbide to her glazes, which bubbled and erupted in the heat of the kiln. During the 1960s, Rie increasingly explored unusual surface effects, often recalling textures from the natural world like rock or coral. At Kettle’s Yard, the bowl sits alongside a seashell and a painting of boatbuilding by Christopher Wood.
Hans Coper, Vase, c. 1970
Stoneware with porcelain slip and manganese glaze
Hans Coper was Lucie Rie’s closest friend and collaborator. Coper originally joined Rie’s workshop as an assistant in 1946, but soon began to work alongside her, sharing the studio until he left in 1958 to pursue his independent work. This sculptural vessel is characteristic of Coper’s mature work, made by joining together several wheel-thrown elements, before applying layers of slips and glazes that are scratched and sanded to build texture. It is displayed alongside works by Alberto Burri and William Congdon, which share Coper’s use of earthy tones and worn, abraded textures.