▲ Dame Lucie Rie (Austrian, 1902-1995) an elliptical bowl

circa 1980, white and yellow glazed stoneware, impressed artist's seal, impressed artist's seal, 15.3cm wide, 12.5cm deep, 8cm high, Woolley & Wallis, Salisbury, 24 March 2024, lot 350, where acquired by the present owner. Dame Lucie Rie was a distinguished Austria-born British potter. She studied under Michael Powolny - a sculptor and ceramist who was considered a major force in the Viennese art scene - at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna, before emigrating to London in 1938. Due to wartime constraints, she initially designed and produced ceramic buttons for the fashion industry - decades later, her extensive collection of buttons would become a major inspiration for Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake. She ultimately pivoted back to stoneware and, in 1939, opened a studio of her own with several assistants. In 1946, she was joined by German refugee Hans Coper, who became her lifelong friend and studio partner. By the late 1940s, Rie had developed her own distinctive style. Unlike most British potters of that time, who favoured wood or coal-fired kilns, she relied on an electric kiln in her workshop. The geometry of her works consisted of simple forms and difficult glazing techniques. She would often experiment with glazing – one of her signature approaches is that she would only fire her pottery once, allowing unfired clay and glazing mix together. Rie did not strive for mechanical perfection in her works, though her pottery is smoothed out to get rid of imperfections on the surface created in the process. Rather, a human touch is evident in the form – whether it is a flared rim of her vase or flowy and soft architecture of a bowl. Decoration played an essential role in Lucie Rie’s works, which would vary from a thick layer of textured glaze, metallic oxides, or fine sgraffito lines. Very often all these techniques would be mixed in one work. Lucie Rie's popularity grew following her retrospective exhibition at Arts Council in 1967. The Victoria and Albert Museum acquired several pieces from the exhibition, then hosted its own in 1982 buying works directly from the artist. This was followed by an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1994. Today, Rie is regarded as one of the most celebrated and important ceramicists of the 20th century and her work is highly coveted internationally by private collections and public institutions. Condition Report, Condition Report, Structurally, the bowl appears sound. Some areas of fluorescence appear under UV examination, which appear to be adhesive remnants. Some crazing and pitting throughout from production. Request A Condition Report, Request A Condition Report

Estimate:$1,338.26

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