Lot

Figurative Pots (1935-1983)

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Lot 1 *Robert Johnson Washington (1913-1997), a stoneware pot, of baluster form, the neck of slight tapering form with a flared rim, brushed in iron oxide manganese with two conjoined figures, on a two-tone ground of cream and brown, incised ‘RJW 65’ and numbered ‘BE16 1007’, 46cm high £500 - 700

Lot 2 *Robert Johnson Washington (1913-1997), a stoneware pot, of tapering form with brushed iron oxide or manganese figures, impressed monogram ‘RJW 66’, and inscribed ‘Glazed in 82 and BMW (d)’, 52.5cm high £600 - 800

Influenced by William Staite Murray (1881-1962) while at the Royal College of Art, Robert began to see himself as an artist first and foremost. The ceramic works were thrown beautifully, with a vertical appearance and with the painting on them as important as the pot - a truly three-dimensional work of art. His work changed little over the course of the next fifty years, as his life as an educationalist took his time and energy. ‘In the middle of the 80s I think I began to get where I wanted to be, where the shapes began to move in and out, into and out, rather than sitting on the surface.’ All the early pots are stoneware and decorated in underglaze red iron oxide and fired at 1280°C in a reduced or oxidised electric or gas kiln.

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