Style in Pottery by Arthur Lane, New Ceramics ed. by Eileen Lewenstein and Emmanuel Cooper (review)

I70 Books weave‘ and ‘turtleback’. Altogether. a book full of delights! I especially like the patterns No. 19 on p. 100 and the Ice Rays. particularly those on pp. 298ff, whose name derives from the patterns formed on a puddle when it begins to freeze over. Style in Pottery. 2nd ed. Arthur Lane. Faber 81 Faber. London. 1973.80 pp.. illus. Paper, 80p. New Ceramics. Eileen Lewenstein and Emmanuel Cooper, eds. Studio Vista. London. 1974. 224 pp.. illus. f6.95. Reviewed by Jehangir Bhownagary* With a choice of clear photographs (but only one in colour) Lane. former Keeper of the Department of Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, takes one for a most readable ramble through his perceptions of the pottery of the Ancient World, the Near East, the Far East, Pre-industrial Europe and Modern Wares (the 1930’s to the 1950’s). I t would have been a greater contribution if Lane had. before his death in 1963. extended his sensitive appraisal to material from the Americas (particularly pre-Columbian) and Africa, for inclusion in the second edition. However, this slim book. with its condensed style. is a delight to potter and layman alike. ajoy punctuated by having to refer back and forth to the photographs, like reading a map of some familiar but not fully explored terrain. The author, keenly aware of the problems facing the potter. sought the functional or ritual qualities needed to make a g00d pot, plate or tile in any period or civilization. to ‘discover some constant principles to which the imaginative vagaries of pottery style must in varying degrees conform’. His discussion of the Potter’s Means and Aims is lucid and probing. Technical perfection. exacting industrial demands and exquisite quality are appreciated on an equal footing with other qualities to which ‘a casual roughness gives the breath of life. Fire is an awe-inspiring, unaccountable element, and it is good that this wild partner should at times assert his share in the potter’s work.’ A book. then. to be read and reread and especially /ookcdat. carefully. for the objects portrayed therein. as in a museum. have time on their side. Lane wrote: ‘Finally. pottery may reach a point where it is of no “use” at all. except to be looked at. like a painting or sculpture. And why not, if we like looking at pottery‘?Feeding. ceremony, and contemplation are all legitimate human activities. and in each the potter can serve us well.‘ Lane’s book could serve as an introduction to N m C’errr/iiic.v. which undertakes the mammoth task of surveying present trends in art pottery in some 30 countries. Any such venture is of necessity selective; but theeditors (who founded Ccruniic,R~vicw in 1970 for the Craftsmen Potters Association of Great Britain) have cast their net wide and their selection, if incomplete, is a valid and exciting one. In addition to the Introduction that places into historical context the growth of studio pottery in the post-industrialrevolution world, the book has 18 chapters, each covering a country or region and. in most cases, presented by ’someone with an intimate knowledge of the work being made’ in ihose areas. The choice is perforce a personal one. for. as Karin Wallin of Finland states clearly, another author could well have provided a different view of Scandinavian ceramics. Nonetheless, these individual sections, supported by some 250 well laid out photographs, give not only a fairly balanced view of the state of the art but also probe the problems facing today’s artist potters. The ‘amazingcapacity that clay has for responding to the potter‘s intentions’ has led to ‘a rediscovery of the fact that clay can imitate~-withbreathtaking realism-lace, human skin, the patent leather of a shoe (with gilt buckle) or the cracked leather of an old satchel. The technical skill involved in this representational form is considerable, but when the object is made it is no longer self-justifying like the pot. and into the satchel may go ceramic sandwiches or hand grenades. Immediately the ceramic takes on the potential of a satirist’s or a propagandist‘s weapon. or becomes the vehicle for...