Lucie Rie, Two footed bowls, circa 1978 and circa 1980 (lot 25 and lot 1). Moved by Beauty.
Phillips’ auction Moved by Beauty: Works by Lucie Rie from an Important Asian Collection in New York on 11 December features 71 of Rie's ceramic pieces.
—By Isabella Smith, author of Lucie Rie (Eiderdown Books)
Ceramists are often defined by their inspirations or their chosen material. Think for instance of the “Anglo-Japanese” potter or the “slipware potter.” That there is no such moniker attached to Lucie Rie (1902–1995) is revealing. If there is, in fact, one word that occurs time and again in connection with Rie, it is “cosmopolitan.” Born to an affluent Jewish family in Vienna, she had a successful career making Modernist pottery until 1938, when Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria forced her to flee for England. She lived and worked from a small flat in central London for the rest of her life.
Lucie Rie, from left: Large footed bowl, circa 1980 (lot 12). Rare footed bowl, circa 1982 (lot 3). Moved by Beauty.
Cosmopolitan: the adjective comes from the Greek kosmos (world or universe) and polites (citizen), so that a “cosmopolitan” person is literally a “citizen of the world.” Today, it is a positive term. To be cosmopolitan is to be elegant, sophisticated, urbane. Yet, during World War II and the following years, the connotation was, in fact, oftentimes pejorative. One wonders how Rie, always reserved, felt about her close association with such a nuanced and changing word. Rie’s choice to live and work near bustling Hyde Park in London defied popular wisdom. After all, pottery at the time was considered a rural, rustic trade. Rie’s cosmopolitan nature was also expressed in her personal style — famously, she thought nothing of throwing pots while wearing white from head to toe — and in the cultured company she kept.
Lucie Rie, from left: Footed bowl, circa 1960 (lot 35). Footed bowl, circa 1976 (lot 18). Footed bowl, circa 1978 (lot 19). Moved by Beauty.
The present sale’s title, Moved by Beauty: Works by Lucie Rie from an Important Asian Collection, is derived from a statement by fashion designer and collector of Rie’s work Issey Miyake, when commenting on her ceramics. “I am often asked to speak of instances where I have been moved by beauty,” wrote Miyake. “Lucie Rie and her work represent some which most often come to mind.”
That she was worldly in her inspirations is seldom discussed. Reading much of what is written on Rie, you might imagine that her art sprang fully formed from a void. This, of course, is far from true. In Moved By Beauty, one can catch whispers of other times, other places, and other potters in her work.
Lucie Rie, “New Knitted” footed bowl, circa 1981 (lot 38). Moved by Beauty.
The collection is distinguished by its range of forms, glazes, and techniques. In a rare bowl from circa 1978, Rie draws from Chinese ceramic traditions by experimenting with the “rice grain” technique; the pot is dotted with semi-perforations, which allow light through the translucent porcelain. There are many examples of one of her most iconic forms, the footed bowl. With their elevated profile raised lightly on a slim foot, there are traces here of her earliest inspiration: ancient Roman terracotta bowls. The teenage Rie first saw these vessels in sherd form in the vineyards where her uncle practiced amateur archaeology. As she would recall much later: “There were these fantastic Roman bowls that were floating. I always tried to copy those floating bowls.”
Lucie Rie, from left: Footed bowl, circa 1976 (lot 8). Footed bowl, circa 1978 (lot 17). “Byzantine” vase, circa 1978 (lot 7). Moved by Beauty.
The sgraffito-decorated pieces in this collection have even more venerable antecedents. Visiting a museum near Avebury in the late 1940s, Rie saw Bronze Age pots that had been decoratively scratched using the bones of birds; Rie borrowed the idea, using a pin to incise her designs. Elsewhere, an opulent golden-glazed vase that Rie described as “Byzantine” hints once again at the vast range of her aesthetic interests.
Lucie Rie, from left: Vase with flaring lip, circa 1980 (lot 4). Footed bowl, circa 1982 (lot 10). Cylindrical vase with flaring lip, 1976 (lot 68). Moved by Beauty.
What is true is that Rie synthesized styles to create something solely her own. Her friend and fellow potter Bernard Leach was correct when he wrote: “An outstanding quality of Lucie’s work is the degree to which it is free from the direct influence of other potters, ancient and modern.” This singularity was true in her lifetime and during the 30 years since: remarkably, there is no “school of Rie.” As a tutor at the Camberwell College of Arts, she sought to teach skills that would enable students to find their own individual voice, not mimic hers.
Lucie Rie, Rare composite vase, circa 1980 (lot 59). Moved by Beauty.
The Moved by Beauty collection is itself cosmopolitan in its own unique way. Assembled by an Asian collector over the past 20 years, it illustrates how Rie’s work has found favor across the globe. She has had a particularly appreciative audience in Japan, where the exhibition Issey Miyake meets Lucie Rie was presented in Tokyo and Osaka, raising her international profile to new heights. The display designed by the architect Tadao Ando featured pots placed on islands in a reflective pool of water, demonstrating the reverence in which they were held.
Lucie Rie, from left: Squared vase, circa 1966 (lot 44). Vase with oval lip, circa 1978 (lot 41). Bulbous vase, circa 1970 (lot 51). Moved by Beauty.
Today, Rie’s work continues to attract collectors across the globe, including the fashion designer Jonathan Anderson and the naturalist David Attenborough. Some collectors still abide by Rie’s belief that pots should be used for their original purpose — she herself filled Hans Coper’s vessels with leaves and flowers to decorate her little flat. And other collectors have been known to favour bowls by Rie for use during the tea ceremony: a truly cosmopolitan meeting of East and West, which Rie would surely have approved.
Lucie Rie, from left: Footed bowl, circa 1978 (lot 25). Footed bowl, circa 1980 (lot 1). Moved by Beauty.