Concentrates on the century's leading ceramists who represented the vanguard of the ceramic-art aesthetic

From the Inside Cover: The history of American ceramics from the celebration of the Centennial (1876) to the present day is rich, varied, and relatively undocumented. It is a period studded with men and women of genius, uncompromising ethical standards, and engaging eccentricity. The purpose of the exhibition at the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, and this book based on it is to present the history of American ceramics, its aesthetic and its influence, and so provide a perspective. Comprised of over 400 pieces, the majority of which are illustrated in this book, the exhibition and book span one hundred years of creative endeavor. In the decade-by-decade presentation, a variety of styles, philosophies, and techniques of ceramic artists is shown in this first study focusing on the role of ceramics in the modern, decorative, and fine arts of the United States. The journey of self-discovery and purpose that is surveyed here is an extraordinary one. It takes the ceramic medium in the United States from an imitative, exploratory stance in the late nineteenth century to a vanguardist role in the 1950s and beyond. The achievement is twofold. On the one hand, the American ceramists had established a beachhead for a traditional craft medium in the fine arts, redefining the vessel aesthetic and presenting ceramic sculpture as an intimate and meaningful alternative to the cerebral quality of postwar metal sculpture. More broadly, however, it reflects the triumph of a nation that has been able to achieve a cultural voice and identity through the arts in the brief space of one hundred years.

Articles by various authors arranged in 7 sections, with List of awardees and biographies.

"In American Ceramics: 1876 to the present, the noted ceramics authority Garth Clark gives us the most richly illustrated, up-to-the minute, and comprehensive publication on the history and triumph of our most tactile art. With a text that elegantly marries cultural history to critical analysis, Clark reveals, decade by decade, how American ceramics emerged from an incipient art-pottery movement in the late nineteenth century to its position of international preeminence in the last thirty-five years. Clark's cogent narrative and aesthetic insights are illuminated by more than one hundred color and 140 black-and-white reproductions, which enable us to see afresh the full range of imagery and forms--pottery, sculpture, events, and environments--that American artists have created with clay during the past one hundred eleven years. We are informed of the divers achievements of more than two hundred artists, from the pioneering potters Mary Louise McLaughlin, Maria Longworth Nichols, and, later, Adelaide Alsop Robineau, and the maverick George Ohr to such contemporary figures as Peter Voulkos, Robert Arneson, Kenneth Price, Jim Melchert, Betty Woodman, Viola Frey, Beatrice Wood, and Adrian Saxe. This encyclopedic work concludes with an extensive chronology of ceramic milestone, a list of significant exhibitions, and more than 170 biographical essays illustrated with photographs of the artists. The bibliography is the most comprehensive ever compiled on American ceramics and includes 1,200 entries indexed by both subject and artist." -- Publisher's description

Ceramics had a far-reaching impact in the second half of the twentieth century, as its artists worked through the same ideas regarding abstraction and form as those for other creative mediums. Live Form shines new light on the relation of ceramics to the artistic avant-garde by looking at the central role of women in the field: potters who popularized ceramics as they worked with or taught male counterparts like John Cage, Peter Voulkos, and Ken Price. Sorkin focuses on three Americans who promoted ceramics as an advanced artistic medium: Marguerite Wildenhain, a Bauhaus-trained potter and writer; Mary Caroline (M. C.) Richards, who renounced formalism at Black Mountain College to pursue new performative methods; and Susan Peterson, best known for her live throwing demonstrations on public television. Together, these women pioneered a hands-on teaching style and led educational and therapeutic activities for war veterans, students, the elderly, and many others. Far from being an isolated field, ceramics offered a sense of community and social engagement, which, Sorkin argues, crucially set the stage for later participatory forms of art and feminist collectivism.

A landmark survey of the formative years of American studio ceramics and the constellation of people, institutions, and events that propelled it from craft to fine art

"Garth Clark's friendship with Beatrice Wood began in 1978, when he interviewed her for his book A Century of Ceramics in the United States: 1878-1978. It was a turning point for both. Wood, a ceramic artist and famously free spirit of the Dada era, was 85 years old. Although she was still producing pottery, her sales were slow and she despaired over her financial future. Clark, a much admired art historian and author, became her patron and close friend. Three years later, when the Garth Clark Gallery opened in Los Angeles, its premiere exhibition was Beatrice Wood: A Very Private View. The show - a financial and commercial success - was the first of dozens of Beatrice Wood exhibitions hosted by Clark over the next seventeen years, until her passing in 1998 at 105 years of age." "Now, three years after her death, Clark has produced an illustrated memoir of his cherished friend. Gilded Vessel presents Wood's incomparable ceramic forms in photographs of exceptional beauty and clarity; it is the first book to feature this work extensively in large-format color reproductions. Biographical photographs document her friendships with fellow artists ranging from Marcel Duchamp to Anais Nin to Lily Tomlin. These images are perfectly complemented by Clark's wry and affectionate narrative."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved