Thrown jug

This jug has a grand and playful presence. Made from joining several thrown pieces together, the globular body is coated with an irregularly applied glossy white glaze with visible glaze drips. It appears as an object from a still life painting.

This is a very early work by Andrew Lord, made when he was in his second year at the Central School of Art and Design in the late 1960s (see also 50757). Lord gifted the work to Gilbert Harding-Green (Head of Ceramics at the Central School 1956-71), who could see the potential in Lord and was enthusiastic about this work. [1]

In this early form we see antecedents of Lord’s later sculptures. Since the 1970s Lord’s has continuously explored groups of archetypal ceramic objects. He marries surface with form, through textures created from physical gestures and rich glaze decoration. Lord refers to his work as sculpture to enable a, ‘fresh way of looking at ceramics, free from the baggage that comes with crafts’. [2]

Sim Panaser, August 2020

[1] Email from Andrew Lord to Sim Panaser Re: Works in Sainsbury Centre Collection, 17/06/20

[2] Andrew Lord quoted in Amanda Fielding, ‘Andrew Lord: Milton Keynes Gallery’, Ceramics: Art and Perception, 84 (2011), 46-47, (p. 46).