Studio: international art (88.1924)

MR. W. S. MURRAY'S FLAMB£ STONEWARE

STONEWARE POT, IVORY GLAZE WITH FREE
BRUSH DECORATION IN SEPIA BROWN. DE-
SIGNED AND EXECUTED BY W. S. MURRAY

(By courtesy of Bernard Rackham, Bsq.)

MR. W. S. MURRAY'S FLAMBE
STONEWARE. 0000

THAT pottery can be an instrument of
aesthetic self-expression, and an instru-
ment that answers with the utmost truth
and readiness to the touch, is a fact, well
understood in the East, which has not
always been so clearly recognised in
Europe. Pottery can indeed be plastic
sculpture in a purely abstract form, and
something more than sculpture ; for it is
capable of adding to beauty of shape
beauty of colour beyond the reach of
sculpture in the ordinary sense of the
word. It is true that pottery was first called
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into being by practical needs, and most
pottery must always have a practical des-
tination ; but even wares of this category
need not lack the higher quality. Indeed,
if they really fulfil their useful purpose,
they can hardly miss attainment of it. It
is no disparagement of the potter's art to
recall its humble origin ; even sculpture as
ordinarily understood had in its rudiments
other purposes than that of mere self-
expression. 0 a 0 a a
It is an interesting sign of the times that
a growing number of artists in England
are turning their attention to pottery. They
naturally find their inspiration in the cre-
ations of those lands in which the craft