Emu beaker

Gladys Reynell
Australia
4 /09/1881 – 16 November 1956

Emu beaker
1917
earthenware, sgraffito decoration
Place made
London
Medium
earthenware, sgraffito decoration
Dimensions
10.0 x 8.7 cm (diam.)
Credit line
South Australian Government Grant assisted by the Crafts Board of the Australia Council 1980
Accession number
809C20A
Signature and date
Incised on base 'G. Reynell/Jan/17'. Incised on surface near rim '1917'.
Media category
Ceramic
Collection area
Australian decorative arts and design
Copyright
© Art Gallery of South Australia

  • From the early 1980s, Stephen Bowers began to apply an elaborate and sumptuous style of surface decoration to ceramics, a style that makes use of the techniques of fine painting in combination with layers of coloured glazes and lustre. Originating from a wide range of sources, his imagery varies in content from subjects drawn from popular Australian culture and flora and fauna, to that directly referencing European art traditions, especially the porcelain decoration of the eighteenth century. He frequently juxtaposes unlikely combinations of images, and in Antipodean palaceware selects them from two main sources – European historic pattern design and Australian flora and fauna.

     

    This large vase, one of a pair, was made by potter Mark Heidenreich in Sydney in 1989 using especially prepared clays. In 1994 Bowers finished decorating the first vase, now in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney. This second vase, decorated in 1998, features sulphur-crested cockatoos, scrolling vine with banksia seeds and eucalyptus leaves amongst a smorgasbord of cultural references drawn directly from the history of international ceramics.

     

    Rebecca Evans, Curator of Decorative Arts & Design

     

  • Regarded as South Australia’s first studio potter, Gladys Reynell is known for her bold modernist approach to pottery and her use of local Australian clays. In 1912, Reynell, along with fellow South Australian artist Margaret Preston, travelled to Europe to extend her artistic training, learning pottery at London’s Camberwell School of Arts during late 1916 and into 1917. Reynell’s Emu beaker, which is decorated with emus using the sgraffito technique, dates to January 1917 and is probably one of the first pieces made by her in London. Sgraffito is a process whereby the design is revealed by cutting back through the slip into the body of the pot.

    Reynell’s pottery shares a tradition with the ceramics produced by the Omega Workshops in London (1913–19), which under the direction of Roger Fry (1866–1934) produced art and craft in a wide variety of materials. The style promoted by the Omega Workshops was one of handmade simple forms, allowing the visibility of the maker’s hand.

    Rebecca Evans, Curator of Decorative Arts & Design

  • [Book] AGSA 500.