The Development of Ceramics in Australia

A Brief History

Arts and Crafts Societies
Arts and Crafts Societies have been a major contributor in the development and networking of ceramics in Australia. Primarily, societies grew out of a need by craftswomen to obtain support and criticism from each other.¹ Their role, however, grew to such an extent that the influence they had on the development of arts education, the creation of an Australian audience and the beginnings of an ongoing affiliation between states was immense.

The geographical location and size of Australia had created artistic isolation. Little information had been available to potters. With the formation of the Arts and Crafts Societies craftsmen and women were organized to give demonstrations, lectures and exhibitions; - lectures such as Everyday Art in Japan and Greek Art, Design and Colour in Pottery.²Interest in the work of contemporaries and an awareness of overseas developments gained momentum. During 1929 to 1945 Marguerite Mahood wrote a series of articles on practical pottery for Home Beautiful with clear instructions on 'how to' with articles such as; Using the Potter's Wheel; How to Build a Potters Furnace and Underglaze Decoration in Australian Pottery.³

Exhibitions organized by Art and Craft Societies were popularized by the support of the press. In Sydney such exhibitions became black tie social events. The Technical Museum Collectors and Connoisseurs Society of London occasionally sent objects to augment the Society's display and works were purchased by the National Art Gallery of New South Wales. The Arts and Crafts Societies exhibitions gained prestige previously unseen in connection with the crafts. An audience had been created and atmospheric craft shops, tea rooms and specialty galleries for arts and crafts were popular.⁴ Through exhibition and audience professionalism was being encouraged.

The rehabilitation of wounded soldiers during the war and immediately after saw Arts and Crafts Societies flourish.⁵ With the increase in memberships came a healthy financial period. Whole exhibition areas and exhibitions were dedicated to the wounded soldiers' handicrafts. The Societies also provided companionship and a sense of purpose through an otherwise difficult social and political time.

Their success, however, did not continue. The depression hurt the societies financial standing and their role after the second world war was irrevocably changed. The rehabilitation of ex-servicemen was more organized and institutionalized and societies had a more peripheral role. There was, also, a general lack of interest in the craft itself and societies failed to attract new members in sufficient numbers. The many restrictions after the war did not help their failing position. Annual exhibitions had to be cancelled due to the lack of venues available and much of their social status was lost.⁶

The importance of the Arts and Crafts Societies in Australian ceramic history cannot be diminished. The social status of their exhibitions provided the much needed first step of acceptance to craftwork by middleclass Australians. For potters and artists they provided an outlet for creative expression and opened the way to educating artists in European modernism and art of other cultures.⁷

Formal Development of Ceramics in the Education System
This is one area which poses an interesting scenario over the past one hundred years. In such a short period of time the education system has managed to become an integral part of the arts industry. Before World War 1 art departments in Australia were trade orientated and fine arts courses were undertaken primarily because of their use in the application of art to industry.⁸ Technical colleges were designed as trade drawing classes for engineers, plumbers and metalworkers etc.⁹ The beginnings of pottery and china painting courses at colleges were, initially, conducted informally, as a minor part of other courses. However, by 1930, pottery was being offered as a subject in its own right in most states.¹⁰

In 1916 the School of Applied Art in Melbourne relocated into its own building and pottery was offered for the first time. As early as 1909 East Sydney had a full-time pottery teacher and by 1924 all art courses were transferred to the East Sydney Technical College. Pottery instruction and technique, however, was rudimentary, equipment in disrepair and firings were done twice a year.¹¹ By the late forties a full-time pottery course, covering theoretical and practical work, was being offered by the Brisbane Central Technical College.¹²

Alongside official institutions were large numbers of private teachers of varying skill and effectiveness. Because of the economic climate they were usually single females.¹³ One such artist was Melbourne studio artist, Margaret Kerr, who ran pottery courses to teach studio pottery with an emphasis on Art.¹⁴

Influences of Australian Motifs and the Environment
Flora and Fauna
What the land held and how it inspired the new Europeans settling on its shores is vital to the investigations of the development of ceramics in Australian. Lucien Henri is one artist whose appreciation of local Australian flora influenced many artists. During the late 1880's Henri became Instructor of Art at the Sydney Technical College. He devoted much of his time writing an unpublished book - Australian Decorative Art¹⁵which demonstrated the use of local flora and fauna in decorative arts. Over the following two decades the use of Australian motifs became popular and fashionable spreading into other states as his students moved about.

Rosa Fiveash, a teacher of china painting, popularized Australian motifs in South Australia through the South Australian School of Art.¹⁶ Examples of artists using Australian motifs during this period are many. Hotham Howie used eucalyptus leaves and blossoms (used in a geometric art nouveau style), Martin Maroney used white with blue underglazes featuring Australian flora and landscapes¹⁷ C Rolandsen used birds and lizards modeled in clay, and Flora Landells used naturalistic paintings of flowers. By the 1920's the use of Australian motifs had become a moral duty.¹⁸ The late nineteenth century interest in Australia flora and fauna was often as much a nostalgic yearning after lost innocence as it was a patriotic expression of a nationalist spirit.¹⁹

Aboriginal influence
By the 1930's Art Deco and the search for a truly national Australian art form was the 'new art'. Although nationalism had, in previous years, been part of scientific discovery and exploration and the Federation Movement, it was during the 1930's influences from aboriginal art aspired to be the new national art. Margaret Preston's article²⁰ The Indigenous Art of Australia focused on the suitability of Aboriginal designs in the decorative arts.²¹ Preston believed that the "art of a people who had never seen or known anything different from themselves, and were accustomed always to use the same symbols to express themselves"²² was the right environment for a national art to spring.

Ernest Finlay understood this potential and combined designs from Aboriginal shields with Chinese glazing techniques.²³ Alan Lowe's strong interest in Aboriginal bark paintings and rock carvings took him beyond mere imitation. During the following two decades, Lowe combined Chinese forms with Aboriginal motifs, striving to establish a distinct Australian style.²⁴During this period Carl Cooper copied Aboriginal patterns and used them directly on his work.

Interest in the use of Aboriginal motifs as a decorative style was also fuelled by lectures and exhibitions in 'primitive art', which had become fashionable with Arts and Crafts Societies.²⁵ By the 1950's the commercial souvenir market had been flooded with kitsch products - boomerangs, snakes, kangaroos, and, as with the Australian floral motif, had became stale.

Industry
It has been a long, hard road for the artware industry in Australia. In a country the size of Australia, and it's population, the returns from manufacturing tableware could not justify the investment. The imported product would always be cheaper. As European factories decreased cheap Japanese china moved in to fill the gap.²⁶ A market did exist for commercial packaging, such as jam jars and bottles,²⁷ which was directly related to Australian industry, but relatively few Australian studio potters were ever employed in industry. Studio pottery or artware remained as a minor sideline for major industrial potteries with most studio potters paying minimal fees for the use of facilities, rather than active involvement in the industry.

An Australian tableware industry could not compete with the long history and development of pottery in Europe and Asia. The finish expected was near impossible to obtain whilst digging one's own clay and building wood-fired and coke kilns with minimum information and technical experience, as was the case during this time.

The notion of studio-potter was made possible by the shift in the public appreciation of art, primarily in response to industrialization.

Chinese Influence
Influences from Chinese pottery can be traced back to the beginnings of our ceramic culture. Initially this interest came through an English influence which was intricately interwoven with Chinese pottery and porcelain.²⁸ Almost by default we have inherited an interest in Chinese forms, decorations and techniques.

As early as 1922 direct contact with Chinese porcelain was established. The Collectors and Connoisseurs Society in London sent an exhibition of Chinese porcelain to Australia. In 1932 a more varied collection was exhibited which also included Chinese bronzes and Japanese prints and porcelains.²⁹ Through an increase in political and trade relationships with Asia direct contact was also being established outside our geographical boundaries. An opportunity was presented for artists to visit these countries and explore Asian ceramics first hand.³⁰

Clearly, these influences can be seen through the development of artists work. For Klytie Pate, inspiration came from the Kent Collection of Chinese ceramics at the National Gallery of Victoria.³¹ During the 1920s Earnest Finlay, who had a good knowledge of glaze and kiln technology, was experimenting with Chinese glazes. During the mid-40s Alan Lowe was making vessels with celadon glazes based on colours of the Australian landscape. By the 1950s he had begun making distinct Chinese forms.³²

During this era Melbourne and Sydney artists were also experimenting with the combination of oriental technique and form with Australian motifs to create a national art. Popularity with the dragon in Asian mythology ensured the Australian lizard a place in ceramic history³³Vie Eyre was using the frog motif, which was familiar in oriental art³⁴ and Voilet Mace used decorative motifs drawn from Aboriginal art with glazes and forms remaining essentially Chinese.³⁵

The influence of Chinese ceramics offered artists concepts of new forms, decoration and glaze techniques. These influences opened the way for new ideas and global trends to be embraced in Australia. With the advent of studio stonewares and A Potters Book by Bernard Leach an entirely new philosophy of pottery making came into focus.