The rich inky calligraphic decoration of this thrown bowl references 10th and 11th century Islamic white slip-painted ceramics. Catherine Vanier’s lively freehand oxide brushwork draws on the rhythm and abstraction of Islamic design, a style that has fascinated her since her training in ceramics at the School of Decorative Arts in Geneva.

Vanier lives and works in rural France. In 1994 she moved from making lead-glazed earthenware (see 50774) fired using an electric kiln, to focus on reduction fired stoneware as seen here, using gas and outdoor wood-fired kilns. [1] She says this shift prevented her brushwork, ‘floating between the body of the pot and the glaze’. [2] The effect can be clearly seen here as the painted brushstrokes have saturated into the clay body. Vanier’s practice also encompasses ink drawings (see 50797). These also take inspiration from the rhythms of the natural world and are imbued with the same instinctive approach to mark making as her ceramics.

Sim Panaser, July 2020

[1] La Potière, dir. Andrea Serafini, (Ruth Films, 1996), documentary film, <https://vimeo.com/ondemand/lapotiere> [accessed 30 July 2020]

[2] Lucie Brisson, ‘Exquisite Strokes’, Ceramics Monthly, (November 2015) <https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/ceramics-monthly/ceramic-art-and-artists/functional-pottery/catherine-vanier-lucie-brisson/#> [accessed 30 July 2020]