Lot Essay
William Stephen Coleman (1829-1904), an established artist and author began work for the firm of Minton in 18?? and after a short time was appointed artistic director of Mintons Art Pottery Studio, which was founded in 1871.
Coleman was a central figure in the development and promotion of ceramic art in Britain. The Art Journal of 1870, reviewing a recent exhibition of his porcelain reported them as "a collection of very remarkable work...(which)....does him great credit... We rejoice that a painter of so much ability has thus associated himself with the art for which comparitively little has been done in England". His appointment to the newly formed studio at South Kensington was also recognised in the Art Journal of 1872 which described him as "..the first English artist of reputation who has cared to devote attention to the production of original works on pottery by his own hand"and his work which greatly inspired other potters,and was said to have produced plaques which were "so charmingly fresh in character, so entirely different in treatment from anything previously seen in the Potteries"
His designs were highly sought after and the present examples, painted while Coleman was director of the studio, record his favourite subject matter of children or maidens. Invariably as in these examples he chose to suggest "the flesh tints by the cream or light buff of the biscuit earthenware body which he outlined in ~old brown~ colour and enhanced by shading. He added on-glaze colours for the flush of the cheeks and lips and highlights in the eyes and hair. Any jewellery on the figures he raised in white enamel. Backgrounds were painted in rich colours of Indian blue, cobalt blue, yellow, ochre, olive, bright orange, brown and his favourite turquoise".
It is suggested that "Coleman brought to ceramics a freshness and purity never before seen, and set alight the ceramic artist's palette ".
See lots 46 and 47
Coleman was a central figure in the development and promotion of ceramic art in Britain. The Art Journal of 1870, reviewing a recent exhibition of his porcelain reported them as "a collection of very remarkable work...(which)....does him great credit... We rejoice that a painter of so much ability has thus associated himself with the art for which comparitively little has been done in England". His appointment to the newly formed studio at South Kensington was also recognised in the Art Journal of 1872 which described him as "..the first English artist of reputation who has cared to devote attention to the production of original works on pottery by his own hand"and his work which greatly inspired other potters,and was said to have produced plaques which were "so charmingly fresh in character, so entirely different in treatment from anything previously seen in the Potteries"
His designs were highly sought after and the present examples, painted while Coleman was director of the studio, record his favourite subject matter of children or maidens. Invariably as in these examples he chose to suggest "the flesh tints by the cream or light buff of the biscuit earthenware body which he outlined in ~old brown~ colour and enhanced by shading. He added on-glaze colours for the flush of the cheeks and lips and highlights in the eyes and hair. Any jewellery on the figures he raised in white enamel. Backgrounds were painted in rich colours of Indian blue, cobalt blue, yellow, ochre, olive, bright orange, brown and his favourite turquoise".
It is suggested that "Coleman brought to ceramics a freshness and purity never before seen, and set alight the ceramic artist's palette ".
See lots 46 and 47