Synopses & Reviews
The British studio potter Michael Cardew (1901-1983) was a man of paradox, a modernist who disliked modernity, a colonial servant who despised Empire, a husband and father who was also homosexual, and an intellectual who worked with his hands. Graduating from Oxford in 1923, training with the legendary Bernard Leach, he went on to lead a life of pastoral poverty in Gloucestershire, making majestic slipware and participating in the polarised design and political debates of the 1930s. A wartime project in Ghana turned him into a fierce critic of British overseas policies; he remained in West Africa intermittently until 1965, founding a local tradition of stoneware inspired by the ambient material culture, independent of European imports, made by Africans for Africans. He ended his days a ceramic magus, his pottery at Wenford Bridge, Cornwall, an outpost of the counterculture and a haven for disaffected youth. In North America, the Antipodes and sub-Saharan Africa he offered the egalitarianism of craft as an antidote to racism and inequality. As the novelist Angela Carter observed in 1977, he came to seem 'the Last Sane Man in a crazy world.'
Along with historians of Empire and civil rights, and art and design historians, readers with a general interest in British cultural history will want to read this book.
Review
“Tanya Harrod has written the first great biography of a potter . . . a fearless and lucid account of a perplexing potter whose pots are among the most iconic of the 20th century.” —Mark Hewitt, Ceramics Monthly
Review
Winner of the 2013 James Tait Black Prizes for Biography, sponsored by the University of Edinburgh.
Review
"Perceptive [and] impeccably researched . . . .The intensity of Harrods lens reveals this ‘grand amateur - who never wanted his biography written - as a fascinating and wilful figure, whose life encompassed an incongruous mix of modernism, Empire, craft and self-sufficiency."—Julian Stair,
Crafts Magazine
Review
“A remarkably full, eloquent , and even-keeled account.”—Christopher Benfey,
New RepublicReview
Shortlisted for the 2013 Art Book Prize given by the Authors' Club to the best book on art or architecture.
Synopsis
Michael Cardew was a man of paradox, a modernist who disliked modernity, a husband and father whose life was transformed by his love for a man twenty years his junior, a colonial servant who despised Empire and an intellectual who worked with his hands. As a young man he made majestic slipware. A wartime project in Ghana turned him into a fierce critic of British overseas policies and in 1950s Nigeria his gifted team made hauntingly beautiful stoneware. He ended his days a ceramic magus, his pottery became an outpost of the counterculture and a haven for disaffected youth. In North America, the Antipodes and sub-Saharan Africa he offered the egalitarianism of craft as an antidote to racism and inequality. As the novelist Angela Carter observed in 1977, he came to seem "the Last Sane Man in a crazy world."
Synopsis
British studio potter Michael Cardew (1901-1983) was a man of paradox, a modernist who disliked modernity, a colonial servant who despised Empire, and an intellectual who worked with his hands. After graduating from Oxford in 1923, he made majestic slipware alongside legendary potter Bernard Leach. Wartime service in Ghana made Cardew fiercely critical of British overseas policies; he remained in West Africa intermittently until 1965, founding a local tradition of stoneware. Beginning in the late 1960s, he traveled through Australia and North America, teaching pottery and demonstrating against racism and its consequences. By the time of his death, he had established himself as one of the finest 20th-century potters and as a voice of political dissent and counterculture.
This is the first biography of his remarkable life. Harrod's engaging narrative includes interviews with friends, students, and Cardew's two surviving sons. Also included are previously unpublished photographs of Cardew and his family, as well as color images of his work.
About the Author
Tanya Harrod is an independent design historian, the author of the prize-winning The Crafts in Britain in the 20th Century and the co-editor of the Journal of Modern Craft.