British Ceramic Masterworks: Highlights from the Anne and Sam Davis Collection
This summer, the Ceramics Research Center at the
ASU Art Museum will celebrate the donation that launched
its collection to new heights six years ago, when it presents
British Ceramic Masterworks: Highlights from the Anne
and Sam Davis Collection. The exhibition will present a
selection of work from the 315-piece collection donated by
the Davises in 1998. The donation took the ASU Art Museum’s
ceramics collection to an international level, adding depth
and breadth to its already substantial holdings of work by late
20th century American ceramists.
Curated by Peter Held, the ASU Art Museum’s curator of
ceramics, this exhibition will illustrate the depth and variety of
British ceramics created since the 1950s, ranging from functional
pottery to figurative sculpture. Held has selected works with a
special emphasis on the relationships between the work of
teachers and students, sometimes exploring this through three
generations. Despite the wide range of styles and techniques
used by the British ceramists in this exhibition, many of them
were connected by the institutes at which they studied and by
the ceramic artists who taught them.
Anne and Sam Davis selected the ASU Art Museum as the
recipient of their collection for three major reasons. They wanted
it to stay in the western United States and to make a significant
difference to the collection that received it. They also knew their
collection would not only complement and enhance the Museum’s
collection, but would balance the entire holdings.
Artists in the Exhibition
Many influential British studio potters are highlighted in the
exhibition: Bernard Leach, Michael Cardew, Lucie Rie, Hans
Coper, Angus Suttie, Alison Britton, Joanna Constantinidis,
Stephen Dixon, Nicholas Homoky, Peter Lane, Alan Caiger-Smith,
Geoffrey Swindell and George Walker, among others.
ASU Art Museum Presentation
Organized by Peter Held, British Ceramic Masterworks: Highlights from the Anne and Sam Davis Collection will be installed in the Arizona State University Art Museum’s Ceramics Research Center location.
Duration
British Ceramic Masterworks: Highlights from the Anne and Sam Davis Collection (June 25 – September 25, 2004) is open at the Ceramics Research Center: Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 5pm.
Support
The exhibition and related programs are supported in part by CLA and Friends of the ASU Art Museum.
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