A Lifelong Collection

A Lifelong Collection Gwyn Hanssen Pigott Lucie Rie, Edmund de Waal, Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew 28 October – 15 November 2015

It is a privilege and joy to live with Gwyn Hanssen Pigott’s pots. It isn’t just the perfection of the craftsmanship, something Gwyn valued at every level of her production, but the quiet power of her forms that draws the eye and inspires the soul. Her pots are deceptively simple, compressed and reductive yet embodying the inevitable and eternal.

Being surrounded by such quintessential forms, always firmly rooted in the ancient idea of the vessel (an ideal that is sometimes considered unfashionable), has offered moments of calm even while the pressures of everyday tasks imposed noisy demands. Totally lacking in pretension, her work is, quite simply, about beauty.

Private Collector October 2015

Above: Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Trio (beaker, jug and shallow dish), wood fired stoneware, height 11.5cm width 19cm, 2001 Cover image: Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Still life, 9 pieces (4 bottles, 3 bowls, 2 jugs), porcelain, width 50cm, height 27.5cm, depth 20cm, c.1995

“I am simply looking for beauty, what ever that is – nothing can be explained – only felt. If I find it in a single bowl, or a wandering line of pots, good.

I am grateful.”

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Blue Travellers, porcelain, 15 pieces (6 bottles, 2 cups, 5 beakers/jugs, 2 bowls), Width 104cm, Height 30.5cm, Depth 16.5cm 2002

(From left to right) Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Lidded flat round box, wood fired stoneware, diameter 7.6cm height 5cm, 1969/70, Lidded flat round box (blue lid), wood fired stoneware, diameter 7.6cm height 3.8cm, 1969/70, Lidded round box (brown), wood fired stoneware, diameter 7cm height 5cm, 1970/71, Lidded round box (ashed lid), wood fired stoneware, diameter 8.3cm height 6.4cm, 1971/72, Lidded round box (dark brown), wood fired stoneware, diameter 7.6cm height 5cm, 1969/70

(Left to right) Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Footed bowl with flared rim, wood fired stoneware, diameter 12cm height 6.5cm, c.1980, Wood fired beaker, wood fired stoneware, diameter 8cm height 8cm, o.1990, Beaker, wood fired stoneware, diameter 8.3cm height 7.6cm, c.1985

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Mug, milk jug and sugar bowl, wood fired stoneware, c.1990

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Wood fired teapot with cane handle, wood fired stoneware, height 17.5cm (not including handle), diameter 14cm, c.1985

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Porcelain bowl, matt white glazed porcelain, diameter 23cm height 12.5cm, 1998

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Wood fired bowl (coffee interior, cream exterior), wood fired stoneware, diameter 18cm height 11cm, 1998

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Dark brown bowl, wood fired stoneware, diameter 25cm height 16.5cm, c.1970

‘I have come to a point in my work where I am almost exclusively making work for exhibition. The content of my work, although always rooted in a tradition of wheel-thrown vessel making, has deepened, and I feel the work, still always domestic in scale and purpose, is best seen only by itself; presented as still life, or installation, to give strength to its voice’... ‘They are as much for contemplation as for use. They are as much for use as for contemplation’ “I no longer care if the cup, with its careful handle and balanced weight (the heritage of years of tea set making), stands unused among a quiet group of tabletop objects arranged as a still life, somewhere higher than table height. It is still a cup – an everyday object as ordinary and simple as can be – but from somewhere, because of its tense or tenuous relationship with other simple, recognised, even banal objects, pleasure comes. I am surprised. It is a weird idea. It is not what I thought my work would ever be about when I tried to live like the unknown craftsman in a hamlet in France, or a hillside in Tasmania. It is alarmingly contradictory; to make pots that are sweet to use and then place them almost out of reach. To make beakers that are totally inviting and then freeze them in an installation” Gwyn Hanssen Pigott

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Wood fired jug with handle, wood fired stoneware, diameter 14cm height 21.6cm, c.1970

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Wood fired bottle and bowl, unglazed wood fired Bizen ware, diameter 16cm height 24.2cm, 1985

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Large bowl (white interior), wood fired stoneware, diameter 41.25cm height 14cm, c.1971

The recognition of the significance of detail, the importance of the slightest change in the angle of a rim, the careful precision of weight and balance, the ability of an object to carry emotion and memory, the captivation of space the subtle exploration of the relationships between forms – carefully selected, needy of each other, yet perfect in their own right.

Prue Venables

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Two wide beakers, porcelain, diameter 9.7cm height 8.9cm, 1997

The way the pots transform in light is something special to me because this reflects what we are as human beings, ordinary but with the possibility of joy.

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Two shapes (bowl and beaker), Limoges porcelain, height 8cm width 17cm, 1997

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Two mugs, wood fired stoneware, diameter 8.3cm height 10.2cm, c.1970

Although Gwyn began her interest in art through studying its history it was the rigors and pragmatism of functional potter that claimed her heart; “Pots, useful, everyday, ordinary pots have for most of my life been my daily pleasure mines. Crowding the kitchen shelves, focusing the mind during a coffee conversation letting the eye rest on a considered form, on tenuous line, on languidness, on simplicity, on offered optimism. They have become my companions, and at each meal or coffee break I make a choice, inviting a pot, like a friend, and seeing perhaps something about it I had forgotten in the rush of things.”

Garth Clark, and Gwyn Hanssen Pigott 2002

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Stoneware bowl with brown decoration, wood fired stoneware, diameter 15.25cm height 6cm, c.1970

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Three beakers, wood fired stoneware, diameter 10cm height 11cm, c.1992

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Teapot with cane handle, wood fired stoneware, height 24cm diameter 19cm, c. 1990 and Teapot with cane handle, wood fired stoneware, height 22cm diameter 20cm, c.1990

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Yellow porcelain bow (Ipswich), porcelain, height 9cm diameter 16cm, 2013

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Cloud, wood fired translucent porcelain, height 8.5cm diameter 20cm, 2011

GW YN HANSSEN PIGOTT 1935 1954 1955-60 1960 1963 1965 1966-73 1975-80 1981-88 1989 1992 1994 1997 1998 2000 2007 2010 2011-12 2013

Born Ballarat, Victoria Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts), University of Melbourne Trained with Ivan McMeekin, Sturt Pottery, Mittagong & with Ray Finch, Bernard Leach & Michael Cardew, UK Established studio, Notting Hill, London, UK Elected Fellow, Society of Designer Craftsmen, UK Research Fellow, Dept. of Industrial Arts UNSW, Sydney Established pottery at Acheres, near Bourges, France Established workshop, Tasmania. Crafts Board funded Potter-in-Residence, QUT, Brisbane Artist-in-Residence, Fremantle Art Centre, VACB funded Established studio at Netherdale, Central Queensland Residency, School of Mines and Industries, Ballarat Arts Queensland Creative Development Grant Australia Council Emeritus Award Commission: Neville Bonner Building, William St, Brisbane Australia Council Fellowship Award Established studio at Ipswich, Queensland Asialink Residency grant to Sanskriti Art Centre, Delhi, India Australia Council Tokyo Residency grant Residency, Shiga, Japan Died, London

Selected Solo Exhibitions 1990,91 1991,93,95 1992 1993

Narek Gallery, Tharwa, ACT Margaret Francey Gallery, Brisbane PRO-ART, St. Louis, USA Galerie Besson, London, UK Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Victoria Crafthouse Gallery, CCBC, Vancouver, Canada Garth Clark Gallery, New York, USA

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2015

Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney Gwyn Hanssen Pigott: A twenty year survey, Queensland Art Gallery Garth Clark Gallery, New York Small Works, Narek Galleries, Canberra Gwyn Hanssen Pigott: Bowls and still lifes, Craftwest Gallery, Perth Galerie B15, Munich, Germany Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney Garth Clark Gallery, New York, USA Galerie Besson, London, UK Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane Garth Clark Gallery, New York, USA Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne Tate Gallery, St Ives, UK Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane Gwyn Hanssen Pigott: A survey 1955-2005, NGV, Melbourne Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney Still life and trails: Recent porcelain, Australian Embassy Washington, Supported by Australia Council VA/CB Grant Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra Galerie Besson, London Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney Erskine Hall and Coe, London Olsen Irwin

Selected Public and Private Collections National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide Parliament House, Canberra Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Museum of Brisbane University of Queensland, Brisbane Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane University of New South Wales, Sydney Tasmanian School of Art at Hobart Regional Galleries: Ballarat, Bathurst, Bendigo, Cairns, Castlemaine, Darwin, Devonport, Geelong, Gippsland, Gladstone, Gold Coast, Hamilton, Ipswich, Launceston, Newcastle, Orange, Shepparton, Stanthorpe, Toowoomba, Townsville Banyule Art Collection, Victoria Victoria and Albert Museum, London Crafts Council of Great Britain, London Fina Gomez Collection, Paris Holburne Museum and Crafts Study Centre, Bath Belfast Museum, Belfast Henry Rothschild Collection, Cambridge Boijmans Museum, Rotterdam Dr Hans Thiemann Collection, Hamburg Winnipeg Museum, Winnipeg Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles Auckland Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira, Auckland Charles A Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Wisconsin Jack Lenor Larsen Collection, New York Regional Galleries in UK: Bristol, Maidstone, Manchester, Paisley

Works by other potters Lucie Rie Edmund de Waal Bernard Leach Michael Cardew

LUCIE RIE

Simple, yet infinitely subtle and complex, Lucie Rie pots approach excellence not by refinement to an ever purer shape: it is by their sturdiness and their fragility: a combination of opposites, economy and luxuriance, lightness and dark. Perhaps above all, it is their correctness and fallibility – the inimitable Lucie Rie ‘quiver’ – which holds the attention of observers of her work.

Tony Birks 1987

(Opposite, left to right) Lucie Rie, Small vase, stoneware, diameter 7cm height 12cm, c.1972, Pale bowl, stoneware, diameter 15cm height 6cm, c.1975, Volcanic glaze vase, stoneware, diameter 10cm height 19cm, c.1970, Small matt black jug with white interior, stoneware, diameter 6cm height 5.5cm, c.1970

(Left to right) Lucie Rie, Small vase, stoneware, diameter 7cm height 12cm, c.1972, Small volcanic glaze vase, stoneware, diameter 10cm height 19cm, c.1970

Lucie Rie, Pale bowl, stoneware, diameter 15cm height 6cm, c.1975

EDMUND DE WAAL I make porcelain. I make my objects out of porcelain. I sit at my wheel. It is low and I am tall. I hunch. There is a ziggurat of balls of porcelain clay to my left, a waiting pile of ware boards to my right, a small bucket of water, a sponge, a knife, and a bamboo rib shaped like a hand axe in front of me. I have a cloth on my lap to wipe my hands. There is music. I pick up a ball and throw it into the centre of the wheel. Today, like yesterday and like tomorrow, I am making nothing grander than a cylinder. Barely a vessel, more a sketch of a pot, an inside and a straight profile, the merest impression of my hand and then my impressed seal.

All those iterative movements of arm, wrist and hand, time after time after time. I am making a series of volumes, contained spaces: each vessel is a breath, and I am counting time.

Edmund de Waal 2014

(Opposite, left to right) Edmund de Waal, Beaker, porcelain, diameter 9cm height 11cm, c.1999, Lidded jar, porcelain, celadon glaze, diameter 13cm height 16cm, c. 2000, Teapot, porcelain with wire handle, diameter 8cm height 11.5cm (not including handle), 2000

BERNARD LEACH Gwyn moved to England in 1958 and worked with key studio potters of the time, including Michael Cardew, Bernard Leach, Ray Finch and Alan Caiger-Smith. “Here”, she says “I was witness to the daily commitment to quality, the constant curiosity and change, the personal involvements with the history of the craft and the obsessive reading for deeper insights.”

Grace Cochrane, July 2009 While the atmosphere was relaxed there was a strong ethical philosophy about being an apprentice potter and having standards of ‘fitness and beauty’.

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott

Bernard Leach, Lidded jar, stoneware, diameter 9.5cm height 16cm, 1970

MICHAEL CARDEW

Michael Cardew, Bowl, stoneware, diameter 31.8cm height 15cm, c.1970

A Lifelong Collection Gwyn Hanssen Pigott Lucie Rie, Edmund de Waal, Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew 28 October – 15 November 2015

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