A danger of this kind of sculpture, which is usually described as an ornament, is that it may become just a trifle too ornate, or too pretty and insipid. The artist, who may be a very skilful modeller, is often much more concerned with the actual modelling of the outer adornment than the big form that is underneath for even a small object can have big form. After all, however, a pottery figure must remain an ornament, a decoration, an enrichment of the architectural scheme of the modern room; it cannot lay claim to being more than that.
A pottery figure will probably have to live on neighbourly terms with modern furniture and textiles and their simple, almost geometrical design. That being the case, neither their design nor the design of the pottery figure will gain if there is too great a discrepancy of style between the two.
Simplicity.
The tendency in architecture is towards greater simplicity. Architecture is the master art, and sculpture, whose background architecture provides, must follow suit if it does not want to be left completely behind and look ridiculous. We want to get away from the Classical, or Georgian, or Neolithic ornament, which has nothing whatever to do with modern life and has become obsolete. We want to make a new start, relying chiefly upon good proportions, suited to their function and capable of bringing out the character and beauty of the different materials employed.
You may think the new style of architecture and design bare and ugly, but remember that it has not yet had time to develop fully, and is as yet not much more than a break with outworn tradition, a break which had to come; and the same simplicity of design and regard for material which we demand of architecture we must now also look for in the smallest piece of applied sculpture. If a piece is over-ornate it will not show a beautiful glaze to advantage; neither will it fit in with present-day surroundings.
It is not necessary that a pottery figure should be entirely flat and smooth; you can have smooth planes set off by the contrast of crisp modelling of detail, such as hair and drapery; but underneath you must continue to provide simple, big form.
Static, Balanced Feeling.
The underlying construction and disposition of mass must be firmly established, must be interesting in itself, and must give a static, balanced feeling. To be thoroughly satisfactory the modern pottery figure must be a small piece of architecture. Your small form can then play about on its big base, supplying the variation, the punctuation, the repetition and the colour needed to make the work attractive to the eye as well as to the mind.
Porcelain, stoneware or terra-cotta figures, which are built up out of soft clay, must, of course, by their very nature, be richer and more varied in form than carved sculpture. They must preserve something of their own character, and not ape the severity of stone or cement, in which event they would miss their function of enriching and enlivening the severer architectural scheme that lies behind.
I want to warn you, said Mrs. Petrie in conclusion, that a curious balance has to be kept, so that excrescences and exuberance of fantasy shall not smother your work and leave nothing but an untidy mass. The very readiness of soft clay to serve us is a danger. Avoid that danger, then, or you will become the servant of the material. Use that which is to your hands with economy and restraint.
The Discussion
The Chairman (Major Wade) said he would like to inquire of the lecturer whether, in her view, the best creations in pottery figures were purely the result of intuition and an innate spark of genius?; and whether she considered that the introduction of a certain amount of theoretical knowledge was likely to be helpful or harmful?; did she consider that it was possible by theoretical training to extinguish the spark of genius if a child possessed it? He raised these questions because it had sometimes been said that the tendency of an art school training was to create a sameness of outlook on the part of the students.
Mrs. Petrie replied that she could not see how a little technical knowledge could do a real artist any-possible harm. Brains were wanted in art as much as in anything else. Of this she felt quite sure.
Mr. Gordon Forsyth said he thought this question of sculpture in pottery was one to which they ought to give a good deal more attention.
He was firmly of the opinion that pottery sculpture could be characteristically monumental. In this connection he remembered one particular figure, which belonged to Mr. Eumorfopoulos and which was exhibited in Manchester some time ago, a figure of a Chinese war god. It was quite a small figure, only about 14 in. high, so far as he could remember; yet it was the most monumental piece of pottery figure-work that he had ever seen. That production, at all events, realised the monumental quality that was possible in pottery.
Room for Good Work.
In the Staffordshire Potteries many years ago they had a first-class school of pottery figure makers, and he believed that to-day there was tremendous room for good figure work in pottery. It was a type of work, however, which came into a very special class of its own, inasmuch as, unlike a piece of electrical porcelain, which was purely functional, something which was designed by the engineer rather than by the artist, figure work in pottery fulfilled no utilitarian purpose; its only function, its only excuse and reason for existence, was to create a mental stimulus on the part of the beholder.
Mr. Forsyth continued: I do think there is a good deal of room for deeper thought in connection with the designing of pottery figures. Those attenuated females we see up and down the country do not excite me at all; I regard them as a bit of an insult to ones mentality. There is a lot of room for improvement here, but it can only come about by artists mentally equipping themselves. Neither I, nor anyone else, can stop an artist from being an artist, even though he does happen to attend the Burslem School of Art. Some will always be better than others, whatever training they receive. After all, it is the ones who think deeply who will produce good work.
Concluding, Mr. Forsyth said that he would like to thank Mrs. Petrie very much indeed for having brought such a very important subject before them, because it was calculated to do quite a lot of good in the direction of kindling a real artistic effort in connection with pottery figure modelling. There was room for it, and he felt quite sure that there was a ready market for stuff that was good.
|