Clarice Cliff (1899-1972) pottery makes regular appearances on BBC's Antiques Roadshow. Cliff is one of the best-known English ceramic artists of the 20th century and the wonder always is the variety in the design.
Prolific and inventive, Cliff started work in a pottery in Staffordshire at the age of 13 doing the relatively simple work of adding gold lines on tableware. She studied art in the evenings and by 1928 she was in charge of her own studio, Newport Pottery. There she started experimenting with factory seconds covering over imperfections with strong glazed colours in geometric art deco shapes.
She created angular shapes for her vibrant hopeful patterns and they were so popular that by the start of the 1930s she had 70 painters producing her “Bizarre” “Crocus” and “Ravel” designs. Her range of patterns expanded and her popularity grew. There were tea sets, vases, biscuit barrels, tea pots and milk jugs, all in distinctive shapes and patterns – the “Bon Jour” range alone came in 20 different shapes.
Her work was widely exported and sold in high-end shops in London including Harrods . By the end of the 1930s she had become quite a celebrity in Britain.
Her most famous quote is a lesson to all: “Having a little fun at my work does not make me any less of an artist, and people who appreciate truly beautiful and original creations in pottery are not frightened by innocent tomfoolery”.
Unusual pieces of her work fetch high prices at auction.
