Studio: international art (81.1921)

THE POTTERY FIGURES OF MR. CHARLES VYSE

without much observance of method, shows
signs of passing. Modern craftsmen are
being given their opportunity by the adop-
tion of original and carefully considered
schemes of decoration in which some kind
of harmony is kept in view. The possibili-
ties of pottery figures as an element in such
schemes of interior decoration are obtaining
fresh recognition, thanks largely to the fact
that, as in the eighteenth century, serious
artists are again finding this class of work
worthy of attention. Amongst those who
are giving themselves to ceramic sculpture
with great enthusiasm is Mr. Charles Vyse.

Being a native of " the Potteries," and
descended from a family of workers in clay,
Mr. Vyse has peculiar qualifications for his
self-chosen vocation. He has, moreover,
followed the only course of training by
which one could hope to attain entire
success. To be born in a town or district
in which a particular craft has been tradi-
tional through many generations is un-
doubtedly a great initial advantage, but it
involves a certain danger as well. Exces-
sive conservatism and a tendency to allow
facility of manipulation to degenerate into
carelessness and disinclination for new
effort are faults from which the potters of
Staffordshire are not entirely free. Mr.
Vyse, therefore, did well to withdraw him-
self from surroundings which he felt to be
a danger to his freedom of thought. 0

After studying at the Royal College of
Art he practised for some years as a sculp-
tor, and his work of this order is already
known to the public ; we may mention his
youthful John the Baptist, exhibited at the
Royal Academy in 1915. He has only
lately abandoned sculpture on a large scale
for the work in glazed and painted earthen-
ware to which he gives himself with such
keenness in his studio at Chelsea, a a

It is interesting to note that Mr. Vyse
spends much of his spare time in studying
at the Victoria and Albert Museum the
work of his predecessors ; he acknow-
ledges his whole-hearted veneration for his
fellow craftsmen of the past. He finds in
their achievements not examples by the
imitation of which he may save himself
the trouble of thinking for himself, but a
constant source of inspiration and a
stimulus to independent effort. 0 a

Some of Mr. Vyse's productions are

"THE LAVENDER SELLER"
BY CHARLES VYSE

shown in the accompanying illustrations.
Their material is a white pottery body,
fired at high temperature, and their decora-
tion is painted in colours, mostly applied
before glazing, differing essentially from
the enamel pigments, fused in a muffle-
kiln, with which, as a rule, porcelain
figures are coloured. The number of
versions that can be produced of each indi-
vidual model is strictly limited; the
reason for this is that the moulds will
outlast only some twelve or fifteen castings
from them, and the artist wisely refrains
from continuing their use when they have
begun to wear and thus to lose their sharp-
ness. To obtain satisfactory results the
numerous separate moulds from which
a single statuette is built up need to be put
together with the utmost nicety and care.
The laboriousness of the process may be
judged from the fact that for the head alone
in most cases four separate moulds are

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