Michael Cardew (1901 - 1983) British Ceramicist

Michael Cardew – 1936. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Michael Cardew (1901 – 1983) was a British Ceramicist.

Michael Cardew featured image — Pottery by Michael Cardew

Education

Between 1921 and 1923, he studied at Oxford University.

Biography

He learned to throw pottery from William Fishley Holland at the Braunton Pottery, North Devon, 1921—22. In 1923, he met Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada at St. Ives. In 1923, he became Leach’s first and best-known pupil. In 1926, he acquired traditional pottery set up at Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, where he revived English slipware. In 1929, he moved to Wenford Bridge, Cornwall.

Between 1942—45, taught pottery at Achimota College, Gold Coast (now Ghana). Between 1945-48, he worked in his pottery, Vumé-Dugamé (Lower Volta River). In 1948, he returned to England; 1951-52, he established the Pottery Training Centre, Abuja (Nigeria). Up to the early 1980s, he worked in his pottery, Wenford Bridge, Cornwall, travelled and lectured.

Works

Water Jar with Screw Top by Michael Cardew

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

Ceramics – Amazon

You may also be interested in

Susie Cooper (1902 – 1995) British ceramicist and designer

Breakfast in an American middle-class home in the 1940s was often served on dishes designed by English designer Susie Cooper (1902-1995).Read More →
Eric Ravilious (1903 – 1942) British wood engraver & ceramicist

Eric William Ravilious was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs and other English landscapes. He served as a war artist, and was the first British war artist to die on active service in World War II. Ravilious studied with Edward Bawden and Charles Mahoney at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London in 1928. He painted a series of marionette-like murals for Morley College, which were destroyed by bombing in 1941.Read More →
Moorcroft British (ca. 1913) art pottery manufacturer

William Moorcroft started Moorcroft, a British art pottery manufacturer, in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, in 1913.Read More →
Michael Cardew (1901 – 1983) British Ceramicist

He learned to throw pottery from William Fishley Holland at the Braunton Pottery, North Devon, 1921—22. In 1923, he met Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada at St. Ives.Read More →
Alison Milner – British Designer in Eclectic Materials

Her aesthetic is clean and clear – reducing, simplifying and uncovering underlying patterns. She prefers to inject gentle humour, visual poetry, narrative and a sense of place into her work.Read More →
Charles John Noke (1858 – 1941) British ceramicist

He modelled vases (including Columbis and Diana) and figures from 1893 to 1898. (including Holbein and Rembrandt vases). With Cuthbert Bailey and John Slater, he experimented with the reproduction of Sung, Ming, and early Ch’ing dynasty blood-red rouge flambé and sang-de-boeuf glazes from the late 1890s to the early 1900sRead More →
British Studio Ceramics a Short History

In Britain, the backlash against the highly ornamented machine-made ceramics that were fashionable in the late 1800s gathered steam. Art potteries were founded by a group of creative craftspeople who William Morris inspired.Read More →
Josiah Wedgwood British Ceramics Manufacturer

He started by producing basic tableware, but by 1759, he had expanded to include beautiful items like classical vases and portrait busts. He was one of the first producers to hire artists to create product designs.Read More →
John Adams (1882 – 1953) British Ceramicist and Designer

Index: abc | def | ghi | jkl | mno | pqr | stu |Read More →
6 Amazing Books for the Ceramics Lover

The following 6 books are our latest offerings on Ceramics and Pottery. Everything that will satisfy the novice to the expert. Our blog has focused recently on British Studio pottery and ceramics and we have 3 books that explore the enormous canon of British ceramic collections.Read More →
Ceramics: 400 Years of British Collecting in 100 Masterpieces

The purpose of this publication is to introduce the rich and diverse ceramics in the National Trust’s enormous and encyclopedic collection, which contains around 75,000 objects and is kept in 250 historic houses in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. One hundred essential pieces have been chosen from this vast collection, each adding to our understanding of ceramic patronage and history by showing the very personal stories of ownership, exhibition, taste, and consumption.Read More →
British Ceramics, 1675-1825: The Mint Museum (hardcover)

With over two thousand objects, the Mint Museum’s collection of British ceramics is one of the best and most extensive in the United States. It includes items from all major manufacturing centres, including Wedgwood, Chelsea, Worcester, and Staffordshire. Read More →
Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery (hardcover)

British potters have revitalized traditional ceramic forms for nearly a century by creating or reinventing techniques, materials, and display methods. Things of Beauty Growing delves into the primary vessel typologies that have defined studio ceramics from the early twentieth century, such as bowls, vases, and chargers. Read More →
Bernhard Howell Leach British Potter

Born in Hong Kong, Bernhard Howell Leach was a British ceramicist. He had his headquarters in St Ives, Cornwall and Devon. At the Slade School of Fine Art, London, he studied painting. He went to Japan to teach art at the age of 21.Read More →