Reading 1

“Murray and Leach: A Study in Contrasts”, Shards: Garth Clark on Ceramic Art,

pp. 121-137

 

    This essay is about two ceramists in the 1920’s and 1930’s, who became rivals.  Their backgrounds, work, accomplishments, and place in the art world are compared.

    William Staite Murray was an English ceramist who was like a “secluded Buddhist monk who allowed those who cared about the future of ceramics to seek him out”.  He liked Asian ceramics,

and began working in clay at the age of 33, after studying drawing and painting earlier in his life.

He believed that ceramics belonged to the mainstream art world.  Murray felt throughout his life that ceramics should be at the same level as art.  He sold exclusively to collectors for steep prices and showed in the same galleries as painters and sculptors because he was more comfortable in their presence than with potters.  When he accepted a position to teach he didn’t give feedback to the students, and he didn’t cultivate an environment for emulating heirs to continue his work.  Despite

his more ambitious pieces, and closing the gap between art and craft, I believe that his arrogance, in addition to leaving the field of ceramics, are the reasons why he isn’t well known today.

     In contrast, Bernard Leach was an “evangelical force of a New World missionary hell- bent on converting the savages to his beliefs.”  He liked Asian ceramics, and began work in clay after studying etching.  He opened a pottery in 1920 called St. Ives and exhibited at shows.  Leach sold to collectors, but not at as high a price as Murray.  While doing so, he came out with a pamphlet titled, “A Potter’s Outlook”.  Here he “argued the case for the ethical, utilitarian pot over that of the “art”

pot”.  Leach emphasized the functionality of the pot. He was an effective teacher and writer who drew standing only crowds.

     This essay wasn’t intended to say one potter was better than another, rather it was meant to be a comparison of the two artists and their contributions.  However, in my opinion, I feel that through Bernard Leach’s creating, writing, teaching, demonstrating, informing, and lecturing, that he was a more balanced ceramic artist than Murray.  He was also dedicated to the ceramic community, and had a better business plan.  These are the reasons why I believe that Bernard Leach is known today as the “father of pottery”.

 

Side Note: This summer I came across a book published this year.  It is titled “Simon Leach’s Pottery Handbook”.  Simon Leach is Bernard Leach’s grandson, who has over 800 videos on You Tube.