Ruth Duckworth - Contemporary Studio Artworks from the Estate of Jack R. Bershad New York Wednesday, June 8, 2022 | Phillips

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  • Catalogue Essay

    A German Jewish émigré to England, Ruth Duckworth attended the Liverpool School of Art, enrolling in courses on painting, drawing and sculpture. She turned her focus to clay in the 1950s, perhaps due to her brief tenure as a headstone mason, and attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts to study ceramics. Influenced by the stylized forms of Cycladic art, as well as the abstract character of Henry Moore’s sculpture, Duckworth created both large-scale works occupying public space and more intimately sized tableware, all united by their organic nature.

    In the 1960s, Duckworth took great interest in the then-nascent field of geomorphology; the present lots reveal her dedication to abstracted natural motifs, the painted lines evocative of geological striations. Internationally recognized, Duckworth’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; the British Museum, London; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, among others.

Contemporary Studio Artworks from the Estate of Jack R. Bershad

46

Vase

circa 1978
Mixed clays.
5 1/2 in. (14 cm) high
Underside painted in glaze R.

Estimate
$2,000 - 3,000 

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212-940-1268

Contemporary Studio Artworks from the Estate of Jack R. Bershad

New York Auction 8 June 2022