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Why did Clarice
Cliff become so famous?
Leonard Griffin, author of five books on Clarice,
and founder of the Clarice Cliff Collectors Club, talks about the
woman behind the art.
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When I bought my first piece of Clarice
Cliff pottery in 1979 many antique dealers had not even heard
of her. Some referred to her ‘Clarence’ Cliff! The startling contrast
between designs such as Crocus and Lugano; or shapes
such as her Yo Yo vase and the very traditional My Garden
ware, was puzzling. How could ONE person have designed such a diversity
of designs?
At the time there had been just one book about her, published in
1976 and was out of print. However, I finally managed to get a copy
of the L’Odeon
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Clarice Cliff book, and devoured its contents eagerly.
The more I learned about her pottery and life the more I become
thoroughly engrossed. This was a very exciting time as many of the
pieces I found were not in the book. What were to
become her most famous creations, the classic Age of Jazz figures,
were shown only in archive black and white photographs. It was clear
there was much to discover.
Such is the ‘spell’ cast by Clarice’s art that today posters, books
and her personal possessions are all sought by enthusiasts. Yet
the early eighties saw a quiet build in interest, so fortunately
I managed to assemble a collection in
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| the days when pieces cost tens
of pounds, rather than thousands. To answer the many mysteries about
Clarice and her pottery, I started the
Clarice Cliff Collectors Club back in 1982. Seeing the vast diversity
of shapes and designs in other people's collections made me realise
it might take years to catalogue them all, and I am still trying to
complete this task 18 years later. |
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I began to research Clarice’s work in Stoke on Trent,
where between 1982 and 1988 I traced over 30 of Clarice’s original
paintresses. They had been just 14 years old when they joined her
between 1927 and 1936, so were robust, lively women, surprised at
the interest in their work. On my trips to Stoke I also discovered
both the old decorating shop at Newport Pottery and the original
tip where the breakages, ‘shards’ were dumped! I still cherish a
box with hundreds of pieces of ‘broken Bizarre’ ~ another collector’s
foible!
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Soon, I had so much new information
that I decided to write a book of my own on Clarice, but no British
publisher could be interested. Then, fate played its part; American
collectors Louis and Susan Meisel approached me. Our mutual love for
Clarice’s work inspired us to produce a new book. We added new shapes,
new designs, new names to Clarice’s story. And for the first time,
we illustrated the Age of Jazz figures! Bizarre Affair was published
in 1988 and is still in print today. It added a hint of the personal
story behind the amazing pots, as the title referred to the affair
Clarice had with the factory owner Colley Shorter. Bizarre Affair
exhibitions were staged at the National Theatre, London, and Warrington
Museum, and yet more devotees discovered Clarice. The poster has already
sold for £20 to £30, and an original edition of the book now sells
for up to £50.
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Since 1988 the ceramics world has never
been the same: suddenly Clarice was really discovered! But she was
certainly not the chosen ‘doyenne of British
ceramics’ amongst academics and ‘serious‘ writers. Luckily, ceramics
collectors chose not to listen to the critics.
Christies in South Kensington introduced sales of
just Clarice Cliff pottery in 1989. They were amazed to find that
hundreds of enthusiasts arrived on viewing and sales days, and ‘celebrity
collectors’ were soon spotted. Cliff devotees were rumoured to include
Jerry Hall, Dawn French and Whoopi Goldberg.
Clarice’s pottery was
exported to many countries, including the USA and Canada, South Africa,
New Zealand and Australia, so collectors and auctions are found around
the world. Indeed, the current World record is for a teaset sold by
Christie’s in Melbourne in 1999 for £17,500!
Most recently, the phenomenal
prices have appeared on eBay. There are usually over 250 pieces of
Clarice Cliff on offer and a humble four inch high Beehive honeypot
in Carpet sold for an astounding £2530 ($4050).
I only ever
intended to write one other Clarice book, for her Centenary year of
1999. I had my plans mapped-out as early as 1994.. but suddenly, such
was the interest in her, that I wrote three books between 1995 and
1998. In schools, thousands of youngsters did art projects based on
her designs or shapes, and at the other end of the spectrum, newly
retired people were studying her work because they found her bright,
primary colours rejuvenating.
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Clarice’s unique
contribution was to bring colour into the lives of everyday people.
And she was also the first woman to produce her own shapes en-masse
in a Staffordshire
‘potbank’ ~ hundreds of them! She designed over 20 teapot shapes alone,
and companies adapted her designs; not only on pottery, but on aprons,
tea towels, doormats, trays, calendars, even biscuit tins! This spate
of look-alike ware cashed–in on Clarice’s style, much in the same
way that ‘Mockintosh’ appeared to copy the unique style of Charles
Rennie Mackintosh.
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hard to accept that thousands of plates with her patterns printed
on them have been produced, but it is an affordable way of buying
her Art, otherwise she might be another renowned, but distant designer
from another era. She really is the people’s designer from the Thirties:
her work was aimed at a mass market then, and the ‘magic’ still works!
As prices continue to rise, it is still possible for new devotees
to buy actual hand-painted reproductions of her work by Wedgwood.
These represent an affordable way to enjoy her amazing shapes and
patterns. Ironically, Wedgwood
has employed a team of young decorators to produce these piece, and
they are based in Tunstall, Clarice’s home town! |
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Clarice’s Centenary year was 1999, and
she was finally acknowledged for her achievements in her home town
of Stoke-on-Trent. The Wedgwood Museum held an exhibition Clarice
Cliff : The Art of Bizarre for six months. It was visited by 100,000
people including her original painters - the Bizarre ‘girls’- now
all in their eighties. They became the focus for the public interest
and adulation Clarice never really had.
Perhaps one pivotal reason
Clarice Cliff has become so famous is because she was just an ordinary
person with whom we can all strongly identify. She was modest about
her achievements to the last, refusing to go to an exhibition of her
work in 1972 just before her death. Her ‘girls’ tell us that she would
have been ‘stunned’ at the interest now. But it was inevitable for
someone who, in a few years created a range of over 400 different
shapes which could be ordered on any of over 500 major designs. No
other Potteries designer ever achieved this unique skill of being
both a prolific modeller of shapes and creator of designs: her fame
is based on sheer talent. |
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Clarice’s Centenary has gone, but her ‘star’ continues to rise. In the first auction after Centenary year her pottery has not only maintained its high prices, but suddenly made many new record prices. Lotus jugs, one of her most available shapes, were sold for £7000 to £8000 in standard designs. An Age of Jazz figure, that we did not really know a great deal about in 1982, made a world record price of £15,500 ! One of my first members had paid £20 for hers in the seventies. Clarice would have ’chuckled’, for she was an artist who thoroughly enjoyed her work. She herself said in 1933: "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 a little innocent tomfoolery."
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The Clarice Cliff Collectors Club is at www.claricecliff.com
Credits: Images of Clarice Cliff and Colley Shorter are © Leonard
Griffin® and Pavilion Books 1998/1999 Credits: Images of Wedgwood
Clarice Cliff reproductions © Leonard Griffin® and Josiah Wedgwood®
Credits: Clarice Cliff pottery images, and 1988 ‘Bizarre Affair’ poster
© Leonard Griffin® and Clarice Cliff Collectors Club
These are the opinions of the author, not the opinions of eBay, and therefore eBay does not validate the accuracy of or endorse these opinions.
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