A single handled Lotus Jug, hand painted on glaze in Mountain, 1931–2.
FOR A POTTERY apprentice from Stoke-on-Trent to achieve what Clarice did is quite remarkable, particularly when put into the context of the period, environment and opportunities. Clarice became a unique designer who sought inspiration from worldwide influences her contemporaries were either completely unaware of, or ignored. When assessing her sources and influences we can distinguish between those that had a profound influence and those that were merely a catalyst for an inspired thought.
Clarice Cliff’s aim was to reject the Victorian style that dominated the Potteries, and in doing so she created an immense catalogue of shapes and patterns. It is impossible to count accurately the number of shapes and variants she produced, but in just four key years she amassed 220 shape numbers, and at least eight named tea and coffee ranges – in fact Clarice had designed around 300 shapes! Combine this with the 270 plus patterns and it becomes understandable, if no less astonishing, to see how she is credited with producing some 8.5 million pieces during her career.
No other Staffordshire pottery designer came anywhere close to equalling Clarice Cliff’s prolific output between 1927 and 1936, because no one else was in charge of designing both shapes and patterns. If Clarice had only designed the shapes and fancies she dreamt up, she would undoubtedly have made her mark on ceramic history, but the fact was, of course, that she combined them with innovative, colourful designs!
Clarice achieved her spectacular output with the help of the very skilled staff at her factories, and the complete faith of Colley Shorter in her ability to help Newport and Wilkinson’s survive the Depression. Clarice’s gift was in creating shapes that no one else dared to attempt to make, and then decorating them with equally daring designs. All the evidence shows that she was the most influential British designer of the 1930s.
In October 1972 Clarice passed away peacefully at Chetwynd House. She would certainly have been amazed that within only ten years a collectors’club devoted solely to her work was founded. And it was just seven years after this, that as a fourteen-year-old ‘fan’ of Clarice and ‘Bizarre’ I boarded a coach for the club’s tour of all the places where Clarice lived and worked during the wonderful, colourful, crazy days of the thirties. So you will understand why actually writing a book about ‘our special lady’ has been a great pleasure for me. Clarice has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. And I’m sure Bizarre ware will continue to fascinate and delight many collectors for many more decades.
A shape 374 Archaic vase hand painted on glaze in Melon, 1930.
A Mei Ping vase hand painted on glaze in Sliced Circle, 1929.
A unique dish-form circular wall plaque hand painted on glaze with a stylised female figure over abstract patterned ground, unknown name but titled The Tambourine Dancer, 1932–3.
A cauldron hand painted on glaze in Sunspots, c. 1930–1.
A Bon Jour shape sugar sifter hand painted on glaze in Mountain, 1931.
A Pansies shape 438 cut-out with associated shape 421 fern pot hand painted on glaze, 1930.
A plate hand painted on glaze in House and Bridge, c. 1932.