Surface/Vessel: Insights into the Modern and Contemporary Art Collection

27th October 2022 / Museum blog

Earlier this year, the Barbican in London hosted the exhibition Postwar Modern: New Art in Britain 1945-1965 (you can find out more about it here ), which included a room with the title Surface/Vessel. Here the paintings of William Scott were paired with ceramics by Lucie Rie and Hans Coper, exploring how:

‘In contrast to the angst that dominated art-making in the early postwar years, works of the later 1950s and early 1960s often conveyed a dreamlike sensuality and tactility, their serenity offering refuge and comfort in a world still at sea.’

Equals, William Scott, © Estate of William Scott

Thanks to the Golder-Thompson Gift it has recently acquired prints by William Scott. In 1947 William Scott commented ‘I find beauty in plainness’, a statement clearly demonstrated by his meditative print Equals.

Primal, Sarah Purvey © the Artist

While Chippenham Museum doesn’t have ceramics by Coper and Rie in its collection, it does hold many works by other modern and contemporary artists where, as the Barbican describes, ‘colour recedes and textured surfaces and irregular forms take centre stage’. This includes the work of Sarah Purvey, whose use of a restricted colour palette, seen here in her work Primal, show the ability of expressive mark-making to produce thought-provoking works, that are filled with emotion.

Works by other ceramicists such as Margaret Curtis, Jane Wheeler and Robert Fournier, also use the natural texture of clay and the controlled yet seemingly spontaneous application of glazes to produce sculptural, organic works.

Despite the inherent flatness of the medium, photographers, such as Penelope Ellis, have also explored similar themes, here using black & white photography to focus on pattern and texture, creating images that become almost abstract in nature.

Surface/Vessel: Insights into the Modern and Contemporary Art Collection

Chippenham Town Council