Today we are delighted to announce that the
next artist to be featured in the Modern
Women Artists series will be the modernist potter Lucie Rie (1902 - 95).
In this exciting new introduction by Isabella Smith, Lucie Rie’s tumultuous life is explored through her extraordinary work.
From early promise as a ceramic artist in Europe, Rie found herself on the verge of obscurity in Britain and spent her wartime ‘cabbage-days’ creating buttons to make
ends meet.
But by the 1950s, her intentionally flawed and experimental glazed designs had become popular British domestic wares. Her signature sgraffito technique and later ‘flared-lip’ vases are now among her most recognisable work.
Today, as Rie’s pots smash international auction records, interest in this émigré artist – who fled Nazi-occupied Europe to become an icon of ceramic art – continues to grow.
About the author
Isabella Smith has been immersed in ceramic art since 2014, when she began working as a research assistant for a private collector of British art pottery. After an art history MA at the Courtauld Institute, which focused on the use of clay in performance art, she worked as an assistant editor at Ceramic Review magazine, and is now deputy editor at the Crafts Council’s magazine, Crafts. She also writes for publications such as Apollo, ArtReview, Frieze, the Guardian and The TLS. Lucie Rie published by Eiderdown Books is
her first book.
Sponsors
This project has been generously supported
by the Women’s History Network and
The Craft Pottery Charitable Trust.
Pre-order
Copies of the book can now be pre-ordered from our website and will be shipped from 14 September 2022. Click here to order your copy now!
Press enquiries
For press interviews, images or to see a review copy, please contact: Fiona Smith on 07831 193250 fiona@smithandbaxter.co.uk