Tall vase: C.30-2013

Titles

Tall vase

Maker(s)

Potter: Welch, Robin

Entities

• Vase

Categories

• Stoneware

Description

Tall Vase by Robin Welch, mature work of uncertain date. Stoneware, textured brushed white with green and purple surface with bronze glaze to the flared rim, a rectangular orange panel with incised marks front and back, impressed with maker’s seal (‘RW’).

Stoneware, textured brushed white with green and purple surface with bronze glaze to the flared rim, a rectangular orange panel with incised marks front and back, impressed with maker’s seal (‘RW’)

Notes

History note: Unidentified vendor; Maak Contemporary Ceramics Auction, 12 September 2013, lot 162; bought by the donors

Legal notes

Gift of Nicholas and Judith Goodison through The Art Fund

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (2013-10-14) by Goodison, Nicholas and Judith

Dating

20th Century, second half
Production date: before AD 1993 : uncertain date

Note

Text from object entry in A. Game (2016) ‘Contemporary British Crafts: The Goodison Gift to the Fitzwilliam Museum’. London: Philip Wilson Publishers: Robin Welch studied at Penzance School of Art and the Central School of Art, London. He worked part time at the Leach Pottery between 1953 and 1959 before opening his own studio in London. Following a period of travel, he established Stradbroke Pottery in Suffolk in 1965 where he continues to work to this day. Welch was initially influenced by the tradition of Bernard Leach, with its emphasis on oriental-inspired wares produced for domestic settings. His period at Central School of Art in the 1950s brought him into contact with wider currents of art, particularly through tutors such as the sculptor William Turnbull (1922–2012) and the potter Gordon Baldwin (b.1932). Welch has subsequently built a distinctive career combining design work for potteries such as Midwinter and Denby with a steady output of both batch production and individual studio pieces alongside paintings and drawings. He has taught all over the world including at Alfred University, New York and Monash University, Australia. In 1985, he was commissioned to make a series of impressive free-standing candleholders for Lincoln Cathedral. A life history interview with Robin Welch is available at http://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Crafts

This vase is a mature work of uncertain date, but before 1993