Lucie Rie - Design: Online Auction New York Wednesday, July 27, 2022 | Phillips

Design: Online Auction

Online Auction 27 July - 3 August 2022

  • Provenance

    Gifted to Hans, Hedi and John Rie by the artist

  • Literature

    John Houston, ed., Lucie Rie: a survey of her life and work, exh. cat., Crafts Council and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1981, p. 90 for a similar example
    Margot Coatts, ed., Lucie Rie & Hans Coper - Potters in Parallel, London, 1997, p. 55 for a similar example

  • Catalogue Essay

    The present collection of works by Lucie Rie is from the collection of John Rie, the son of Lucie Rie’s husband Hans Rie. Lucie and Hans Rie married in 1926, after building a relationship on the basis of a shared love of sport, and skiing in particular. In the early years of their marriage, during the interwar period, Lucie Rie embarked on her career as a potter and forged relationships within the world of Viennese architecture and applied arts. In the late 1930s, when their safety began to be threatened and it became clear that they needed to leave Austria, they moved from Vienna to London. The relocation to England turned out to be hugely beneficial to Lucie’s growth as a ceramist, but it was less so for Hans’ career. He spent his time in London assisting refugees, but with professional success elusive, he would soon depart for the United States without her. By that time, Lucie Rie had already independently set up her workshop in Albion Mews, where she lived and worked for fifty years. She and Hans divorced shortly after, and he would go on to establish a new life in Massachusetts. They separated on good terms, and would remain in touch throughout their lives. John Rie has many fond memories from his childhood of visits with Lucie Rie. His recollection is that some of these pieces were made in the studio on one of his family’s trips to England, which he first visited in 1949. The "Johnny" cup and bowl were made specifically for him. Other pieces date to her Vienna period. Together, these works offer a touching glimpse into Lucie Rie’s personal world.

  • Artist Biography

    Lucie Rie

    Austrian • 1902 - 1995

    Dame Lucie Rie studied under Michael Powolny at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna before immigrating to London in 1938. In London she started out making buttons for the fashion industry before producing austere, sparsely decorated tableware that caught the attention of modernist interior decorators. Eventually she hit her stride with the pitch-perfect footed bowls and flared vases for which she is best-known today. She worked in porcelain and stoneware, applying glaze directly to the unfired body and firing only once. She limited decoration to incised lines, subtle spirals and golden manganese lips, allowing the beauty of her thin-walled vessels to shine through. In contrast with the rustic pots of English ceramicist Bernard Leach, who is considered an heir to the Arts and Crafts movement, collectors and scholars revere Rie for creating pottery that was in dialogue with the design and architecture of European Modernism.

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Property from the Collection of John Rie, Connecticut

17

Lucie Rie

"Johnny" bowl and "Johnny" cup and saucer

circa 1949
Stoneware, cobalt blue and white glazes with an integral brown and blue speckle, cup and bowl inlaid JOHNNY.
Cup: 3 3/4 (9.5 cm) high
Saucer: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm) high, 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm) diameter
Bowl: 3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm) high, 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm) diameter
Underside of each impressed with artist's seal.

Estimate
$3,000 - 4,000 

Sold for $8,190

Contact Specialist

Benjamin Green
Associate Specialist
Associate Head of Sale
+1 917 207 9090
bgreen@phillips.com
 

Design: Online Auction

Online Auction 27 July - 3 August 2022