Lucie Rie working on the wheel, c.1952. Rie archive, Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, UEA. Image: Courtesy of Kettle’s Yard.

BATH.- The Holburne Museum is bringing the major exhibition Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery to the West Country today, following its successful presentations in Middlesbrough and Cambridge. This critically acclaimed exhibition gives art and ceramic lovers in the region a rare opportunity to enjoy six decades of the ground-breaking potter’s work.

Works from across six decades - drawn from private and public collections – will be on display, showcasing Rie’s tremendous artistic achievements in the medium and the sheer variety, elegance and experimentation she demonstrated throughout her long and remarkable career.

Nearly 30 years after her death, Dame Lucie Rie (1902–1995) remains one of the most celebrated potters of the 20th-century, and her iconic work, which helped define British style in the mid-20th century, continues to inspire not only potters but artists and designers of many sorts.

Lucie Rie, Bowl, 1956, Crafts Council Collection: P109. Photo: Stokes Photo Ltd.

Rie was born and grew up in Vienna at the height of the Secession art movement - which had close links with its French counterpart, Art Nouveau - and later trained at the city’s school of Arts and Crafts at the famed Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop). Even at an early stage in her career, Rie’s talent was recognised and she won a number of awards in the 1920s and 1930s. A 1936 earthenware tea set will be a key highlight of the exhibition, notable for its simple shapes and fine rims, complemented by the unglazed, burnished surface of the red clay.

Fleeing the 1938 Anschluss (Germany’s annexation of neighbouring Austria), Rie escaped to London and during the war began making ceramic buttons for the fashion industry, experimenting with miniature forms and new glazes. A selection of these, including knotted and twisting examples made by Rie, will also be on display in the Holburne exhibition.

The Adventure of Pottery has added significance, as it shines a spotlight on one of the few female potters working independently in Britain in the first half of the 20th century. After the war, Rie resumed her career and returned to making refined tableware, and ambitious one-off bowls and vases. Her style became highly regarded for its striking modernity and individuality, while her male counterparts, such as Michael Cardew and Bernard Leach were drawing inspiration from medieval and East Asian traditions.

Lucie Rie, Stoneware coffee set, c.1960. © Estate of Lucie Rie

Lucie Rie, Bowl, c.1962, stoneware. Image: Courtesy of Andrey Gertsev

Lucie Rie, Blue and white jasperware cups and saucers for Wedgwood, 1963. S.23, Sainsbury Centre. Image: Courtesy of Kettle’s Yard

Rie was also influenced by Neolithic and Bronze Age earthenware but forged her own path by incorporating contemporary designs and aspects of the natural world. Works from the 1970s show her signature use of sgraffito (etched linear designs), and the painterly, expressive use of glazes. Even in later life, Rie was constantly experimenting, developing forms, colours and surfaces that pushed the boundaries of studio ceramics. Her pots were all the more unusual, in that they were only fired once, with glazes applied by brush while the clay was still raw and unfired.

In the late 70s through to the mid-80s, she continued to innovate and created a series of long-necked vases and footed bowls, whose elegant shapes were offset with vibrant turquoise, bronze and yellow glazes. A wonderful example of which is a pink bowl adorned with delicate inlaid lines and a golden manganese drip, which Rie completed in 1990 at the age of 88.

Lucie Rie, Straight sided bowl, 1970, porcelain. Private Collection. Image: Courtesy of Maak Contemporary Ceramics.

Lucie Rie, Vase, 1970s. © Estate of Lucie Rie/Whitechapel Gallery/Stephen White Photography; Stokes Photo Ltd; Andrey Gertsev

Lucie Rie, Bowl, c.1970. © Estate of Lucie Rie/Whitechapel Gallery/Stephen White Photography; Stokes Photo Ltd; Andrey Gertsev

Lucie Rie, Bowl, 1977, thrown porcelain with manganese glaze and sgraffito decoration, Middlesbrough Collection. Purchased with assistance from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund.

Lucie Rie, Porcelain vase with flared lip, c.1978. Maak Contemporary Ceramics © Estate of Lucie Rie

Lucie Rie, Turquoise bowl with bronze rim, 1980s, stoneware. The Derek Williams Trust on long term loan to Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales. Image: Michael Harvey; Courtesy of Erskine, Hall & Coe

Lucie Rie, Bowl ‘with a glaze the colour of forced rhubarb’, 1990. © Estate of Lucie Rie

Dr Chris Stephens, Director of Holburne Museum says: “With its rich and varied collection of china, the Holburne is the perfect setting for this major presentation of one of the great pioneers of modern ceramics. More than just a potter, Lucie Rie helped define mid-twentieth century style and it is an honour to bring to Bath this critically acclaimed, “unmissable” exhibition.”

Andrew Nairne, Director, Kettle’s Yard adds: “The pieces on display in Bath will reveal the astonishing breadth, versality and beauty of Rie’s work across her long career, as well as her technical innovations that have permanently extended the language of studio pottery.”

Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery is organised by Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge and MIMA, Middlesbrough, in association with The Holburne Museum, Bath. Exhibition supported by the AKO Foundation.

The Holburne Museum’s mission statement is 'Changing Lives Through Art', signalling its commitment to opening up the enjoyment of art to people of all ages and from every walk of life. The Holburne was founded in 1882 with the gift of Sir William Holburne’s collection of 16th- and 17th-century Italian and Dutch paintings, silver, sculpture, furniture, porcelain and diverse objets d’art of national and international significance. That founding gift has been augmented with a collection of 18th-century paintings by such artists as Gainsborough, Lawrence, Ramsay, Stubbs and Zoffany. Set within the historic Sydney Pleasure Gardens, the Museum reopened in May 2011 after ambitious renovations and with a new, award-winning extension by Eric Parry Architects. The Holburne has since secured a national reputation as an outstanding museum which holds critically acclaimed exhibitions. Its programme of exhibitions, commissions and events sets out to bring to Bath great art of all periods and from around the world, seeking to set the art of the past in dialogue with contemporary practice in exciting and dynamic new ways.

Lucie Rie in her studio at Albion Mews, London, in the 1990s. © Estate of Lucie Rie/ Times Newspapers

“To make pottery is an adventure to me, every new work is a new beginning.” – Lucie Rie

The Holburne Museum
Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery
July 14th, 2023 - January 7th, 2024