info@studio-pots.com	Harlequin Gallery
Bernard Leach NOTE: Several recently obtained works by Bernard will be available during the March 2012 exhibition, “The Harlequin goes to Mayfair”. These include an example of his iconic quartered design stoneware bottle and a very large globular jar. If you would like to receive notification of this exhibition please contact the gallery using the link above. Examples of Bernard's work that are currently available
Painted stoneware bowl probably from the 1960s with pottery seal and personal painted mark. Height: 9.4 cm (3.7 inches) Diameter: 13.8 cm (5.4 inches) Price: £775	Blue glazed vase with kaki decoration. Pottery and personal seals. Height: 13.7 cm (5.4 inches) Price: £900
Tenmoku flared Stoneware Vase. Height: 13.3 cm (5.25 inches) Price: £575
Bernard Leach (1887-1979) was one of the founding fathers of the Studio Pottery movement, who originally started the Leach Pottery in St. Ives, Cornwall, along with his friend and fellow potter Hamada Shoji, back in 1920. Bernard was born in Hong Kong and lived in Japan and Singapore before being sent to school in Windsor by his English parents when he was ten years old. Upon leaving school he entered the Slade School of Art, studying drawing under Henry Tonks, followed by a spell studying etching under Frank Brangwyn at the London School of Art. Leach returned to the Far East in 1909 with the intention of introducing etching but by chance he decorated his first raku pot at a party in Japan and realised that this was going to be his true calling. This lead to Leach studying under the potter Ogata Kenzan VI with fellow pupil Kenkichi Tomimoto before building his own pottery at Abiko, Japan in 1917. It was in Abiko that Leach and Hamada met for the first time and began what was to be a lifelong friendship. St. Ives was certainly not the place you would choose to start a pottery due to its lack of the basic raw materials. However the founder of the St. Ives Handicraft Guild, Mrs Frances Horne, wished to include a potter and it was her donation of £2500 that was the key. Despite many hardships along the way the pottery survived throughout the 20th century and was responsible for training some of the finest studio potters that the world has known.
A stoneware vase with incised and combing decoration under ash glazes. Leach Pottery seal. Height: 12.4 cm (4.9 inches) Price: £190 NOTE: - In the book “Bernard Leach, Hamada & their circle” that illustrates the Wingfield Digby collection there is a vase with the same glaze combination and decorating techniques on page 77. This only has the Leach Pottery seal but is attributed to Bernard, I assume, as they would have bought it directly from him in 1965. The vase above has no such provenance but this reference suggests to me that it may well be the work of Bernard. It is also not part of the Standard Ware range and doesn’t bear the personal seal of any other potter that was allowed on such an individual item.
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