Gas or Electricity Forward looking and keen to acquire one of the new electric-fired kilns, Harry Parr often discussed with Charles Vyse the pros and cons of kiln firing. Vyse was of the opinion that gas was best, and Parr was one of the first potters to bring electricity to the Cheyne Row studios. Vyse however, continued to fire his figures using the gas-fuelled kiln he had acquired when Bertha White became his assistant in 1919. From 1920, Vyse and Parr consistently showed their work at the Royal Academy. Parr organised one or two Christmas shows at his studio, but most of his work he sold through James Connell of Bond Street. His figures retailed at 25 guineas with Parr receiving his just portion of the selling price. Unlike Vyse, who by …show more content…
At Charles Noke’s invitation, Leslie Harradine had designed the figure HN479 Balloon Seller, sometimes referred to as the Balloon Woman. Harradine, consummate artist that he was, could not in good faith model a facsimile of the Vyse original, and an unacceptable practice and against the law of industrial plagiarism. The Harradine figure may be c0nstrued the amalgamation of two Vyse designs, the Balloon Woman of 1920, and the current design, Tulip Woman, 1921. It is conceivable that Harradine took the essential elements from both designs by Vyse, and amalgamated them into a new and cohesive whole, cleverly modelling a vendor figure of which the Doulton studio wholeheartedly approved. The first version of Doultons HN479 Balloon Seller had a Black shawl and grey dress with white spots, withdrawn in 1938 (Fig. 35a). A additional version HN486 had a blue dress, but was modelled without a black hat, this too was withdrawn by 1938. The version numbered HN548, introduced in 1922, had a black shawl and blue dress, also withdrawn by 1938. The Doulton figure illustrated with green shawl and cream dress (Fig. 35b), and numbered HN583, introduced in 1932, withdrawn by 1949. Finally, Doulton introduced a further version HN697 Balloon Seller in 1925, decorated with a striped red shawl and blue dress, and by 1938, it too has since been
However, the result of the Vyses concentration expended on the production of the stoneware vessels and attendant ash-glazes culminated in the re-working of the figure group Morning Ride. Even so, it is difficult to understand the reasoning why Vyse found it expedient to remodel this figure rather than devising an additional composition, and Marsh, in his Walker’s article, does not mention it. Indeed, this present model is occasionally mistaken for the 1925 original (Fig. 62). Furthermore, the 1929 model should not be viewed as a previous model bearing a similar title. In sculptural terms, this edition is a pointed up version of the original. Doubtless, Vyse expended much the same industry in the as he had done when modelling the smaller 1925 version. The present version, thought by collectors to be the suitable of the two, and possibly justification for the time
Towards the close of 1951, the artists working in Cheyne Row were asked to vacate their studios, the owners, in wanting to utilise all the buildings on the site. Harry Parr conceded that at the age of seventy, it was time to retire from modelling and sculptural work in general. When the time came for Parr to clear his studio during the last week of January 1952, Malcolm Parr, at home on leave from the Cameroons was there to lend a hand, recalling, It was one of those awful grey days, when my younger sister Bridget, and I helped Pa to smash all the plaster piece-moulds, he’d zealously kept over the years to make his beautiful earthenware figures. When we begged without much hope, that he should save some of them, he defended his act
Jennifer Price’s essay, “The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History”, details the history of the plastic pink figure that could be seen in the yards of Americans in the mid 1900’s and can still be seen today. Through her use of irony and various rhetorical devices, she criticizes American decadence and materialism while also highlighting an inability to observe genuine beauty.
In Jennifer Price’s essay, “The Plastic Flamingo: A Natural History” (1999), she examines that of the pink flamingos boldness and vivacity. In doing so, Price organizes through descriptive detail and suggestive metaphor. She does so in order to make known the history and popularity of the pink flamingo in the 1950s. For her audience of Americans, Price speaks admirably towards the decorative trend itself; however, she takes that of a more light sarcastic tone towards the people who indulge in it.
Harry Parr aged 29, was newly returned to England, fluent in both the Italian and French languages, when he took up a position of modelling tutor at Glastonbury College of Art. However, his ideal was to become a fine artist, and to work on his own account. Returning to London he found lodgings in Chelsea. Throughout 1910, while trying to procure sculpture commissions, he lived as best he could around the Chelsea area. Undaunted at his seemingly slow progress, he carried on working from his lodgings-cum-studio, 54 Lamont Road Chelsea SW. That same year he exhibited at the Royal Academy a silver plaque portraying Miss Alice Clark RA 1883 and a portrait bust, titled, Una Madre Vecchia RA1902 (an aged mother). While working at The
never, I believe, made large sums of money by his writings, and the early profits of these charming sketches could not have been considerable; for many of them, indeed, as they appeared in journals and magazines, he had never been paid at all. . . .(chap. 2)
Parr, in his first year, studied Architecture under Professor Arthur Beresford Pite (1861-1934). In his second year 1904, he gave up architecture to study sculpture under Professor Edouard Lantèri, gaining a British Institute Scholarship to further his studies at the sculpture school. He gained the British Institute Scholarship for Sculpture, in 1905, and in 1907, a Travelling Scholarship. A student may gain a Travelling Scholarship in the sculpture school, if judged the year’s best. His winning subject, Hercules, was a plaster sculpture, said to be two feet high. For a number of years, Parr displayed his Hercules at his Cheyne Row studio. He surpassed his contemporaries at the school, Charles Sargeant Jagger (1885-1934), William McMillan (1887-1977), and Gilbert Ledward (1888-1960). He travelled to Florence, Lucca, and Venice to further his knowledge of Italian art, and arrived at the British School at Rome in 1908. To underwrite his other expenses, his Grandfather Joseph Parr made him an allowance to further his art studies in Italy and France, here he painted and mastered the art of stained
Mr. Charles Vyse’s pottery and porcelain figure work is too well-known and eagerly sought after to need any introduction. These have already found their way into the collections of many discriminating and discerning buyers both at home and abroad and especially collectors in the United States of America have been keen to acquire these very interesting and beautiful specimens of modern sculptured pottery work. The subjects have been taken usually from life studies of simple, familiar and interesting types, most of the Chelsea streets and its immediate neighbourhood– the “Balloon Girl, ” the “Tulip Woman” the “Chrysanthemum Girl” and the “Madonna of the World’s End” for instance, these, and occasionally others further afield, such as the “Piccadilly Rose Woman,” have attracted the
1935, proved to be a turning point for Harry Parr, and his relationship with the Royal Academy. He no longer sent his ceramic figures for consideration by the committee. Rather, he began to send in, art work on paper, such as his 1935 exhibit, Head (RA 1205) a study in pencil and wash. His other exhibit that year, a bronze medallion depicting an unknown subject, Miss Ealand (RA1603). Unfortunately, the whereabouts and the substance of these works are unknown.
Like Untitled #225 (Blond Woman), Sherman’s Untitled portrait #198 (Feather Mask) also stirs a sense of uneasiness. The portrait is a color photograph created in 1989. A woman with an open salmon colored shirt exposes both artificial breasts as she sits with a large, blue feather mask covering her face, as if to cover her identity for fear of being mocked for being a woman. Dark, black eyes peer from beneath the mask, and appear to follow the viewer while one examines the portrait. There’s seems to be no reason for her shirt to be open and her breasts on display, unlike Sherman’s Untitled #225 (Blond Woman) portrait, who seemed to have a definite reason. The fake, jewelry-like nipples on the breast are a deep ruby red color that match with a red pedant hung around her neck. A white tulle skirt covers the lower half of her body as she sits in front of a green printed fabric with red tassels that is hung loosely behind her.
It is the occasional fate of artists and potters that after decades of celebration, modern tastes should eclipse their once eminent reputations. Charles Vyse, sculptor and potter, was such an artist. In the new world following The Great War, Charles Vyse was at the vanguard of English studio pottery making. He is a poignant example of a celebrated artist overtaken by the shadow of derision in the post WWII era. His renown as a sculptor and potter during the 1920s and 1930s contrasts to the complete indifference to his art in the 1950s and 1960s. Whereas his status of master potter is indisputable, his aesthetic influence on other potters is insignificant. His figurative work and his stoneware vessels have few disciples among today’s potters. Conversely, for the collector, there has been a resurgence of interest in his figures and stoneware vessels. The acquisition of a Vyse figure is a prerequisite of the modern connoisseur.
1900’s - Creation illustrator Charles Dana Gibson. (Not a real person at first) - Lots of girls inspire to be like the drawings. - Turned into up to date fashion and style. - Ideal women was: o to be slender and tall o voluptuous bust but not lewd o Rounded shoulders o Smooth neck o wide hips
During 1925, Parr secured unimportant sculptural employment, offered to him by the architect Charles Wheeler.23 Wheeler engaged him to construct a number of minor sculptures for the uncompleted Bank of England’s building. Consequently, Parr had little time for making figures. As noted previously, Charles and Nell Vyse were engrossed completing figure commissions at Cheyne Row, and producing high-fired stoneware, and continuing their research into Chinese type glazes. The Vyses were beginning to be known in this sphere of studio pottery, Nell in particular was becoming recognised for her expertise in glaze technology. Therefore, it is remarkable that Vyse found the time to model original figures that year. Although not exhibiting
It is debatable why the Vyses appeared to abandon coloured decoration. As early as 1921, the art critic Bernard Rackham33 was suggesting the desirability of the monochrome glazed figurines. A point previously commented on in this book. Plainly glazed figurines were fashionable during this period, and Nell Vyse viewed the move to monochrome as a ‘modern’ concept. Furthermore, should the monochromatic venture prove successful, the Vyses would profit from the saving in time and materials, and of course the expense of hand decoration. They would also profit from the figure not requiring an enamel firing, again another saving on labour and fuel. It is difficult to say how many models Vyse made of The Falconer, the few that have come before the public
When Jennifer Wormser learned that I was interested in painting dollhouses, she offered to loan me her personal copy of The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton. The fictional tale tells the story of a young woman who receives a miniature Dutch cabinet house from her husband as a wedding present. The story is based on the actual 17th-century Doll’s House of Petronella Oortman (c.1686- c. 1710) on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which I was fortunate to see in person during a visit to the Rijksmuseum a few years ago. It was a combination of seeing Petronella Oortman’s actual doll’s house displayed next to a painting that was made of the doll’s house by Jacob Appel in 1710, that inspired me to paint my first dollhouse interior, based on a childhood