Posted 8 years ago
vetraio50
(751 items)
Last Monday evening I went to a meeting here in Sydney of the Ceramics Collectors Society to hear a talk on Dolly Cliff and John Butler ..... two designers for A. J. Wilkinson in the early twentieth century. The speaker was Greg Slater ... the author of two tomes on the work of Clarice Cliff: 'Clarice Cliff for Collectors' and 'Comprehensively Clarice Cliff'.
It was great evening. I was happy to have a mystery solved for me by Greg Slater. At these meetings you are encouraged to bring along mystery items that relate to the topic of the evening. So I took along an item that had intrigued me for many years.
My friends Thelma and Peter had invited me along a week beforehand to the meeting and so it had been on my mind to find a plate that was in my collection somewhere that I knew was made by Wilkinson's but was not Clarice.
But the over-glaze decoration was certainly 'different'.
If it wasn't Clarice, who was it?
It was dated August, 1929.
During the talk Greg Slater spoke not only about the designs of Clarice's sister Dolly and her former boss John Butler but about some others who worked at the Wilkinson's factory at the same time. One of these was Fred Ridgeway.
Ridgeway created a series of lithographic designs that were used on Wilkinson blanks and were decorated by the team at the factory. In this case the design is called "Ducks and Bamboo" and it fits into a series of works he did with a Chinese feel.
In 1927 Clarice Cliff had been given a new role at Wilkinson's as head designer. Her work immediately became successful and both Ridgeway and Butler did work that was heavily influenced by the designs and methods of Clarice. But both of these designers seem to have disliked Clarice. They were rivals but their work changed because her work had found the pulse of the times.
In the case of this plate you can see the impact of Clarice's style.
A Chinoiserie theme has been obliterated by the over-glaze decoration!
A Clash of the Titans at Wilkinson's!
Can I suggest Greg Slater's site for those interested in the Clarice Cliff Crew :
http://www.theagora.com.au
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compliments vetraio for the post it was a pleasure reading it
Many thanks for your kind comments KIVATINITZ !!!!!!!
beautiful!!!
Very nice indeed!!
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What a great way to have your mystery solved. You are lucky your friends knew of the guest at the meeting and you could take your plate.
It's a lovely thing too - nice painting on it!
Many thanks KAREN it was a really entertaining evening !!!!
your very welcome Kevin!!!
Very interesting reading. Thank you. I've looked through a lot of Clarice's pieces. Some of them are quite quirky.
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/art-pottery/clarice-cliff
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ROCK ON !!!
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I have just noticed this article on the internet. For information purposes in Clarice's early days before her rise to fame and for women to design in their own right Clarice would create pieces and Fred Ridgway had to sign his name to her work, he did not like her work and was not happy about signing his name to her work. I have documentation evidence confirming it. I live in Fred Ridgway's Grandsons house and found the paper work in the house confirming this. Regards Marilyn
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A belated thanks to Marilyn for your information too.
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