Richard DeVore preferred the nomenclature of potter over ceramic sculptor, having dedicated his career to exploring the ancient form of the vessel. Training at the Cranbrook Academy of Art under acclaimed Finnish-American ceramist Maija Grotell, DeVore built an oeuvre predicated on the integrity of form.

His work communicates a primordial sensibility, the thrown vessels altered to bear folds and tears, and whose matte surfaces appear gently weathered by nature—features rendered clearly in the present selection. In some works DeVore folds clay upon itself, creating forms that invoke the female body, his work drifting into the realm of the erotic. An important figure in postwar pottery, DeVore’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, among others.