San Francisco Ceramic Circle
August 16th, 2001 Meeting
Imps on a Bridge: Wedgwood Fairyland
and Other Lustres
an illustrated slide lecture by
Harold B. Nelson
Director, Long Beach Museum of Art
The August meeting of the San Francisco Ceramic Circle will
be held on Thursday,16th August in the Florence Gould Theater
at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, San Francisco.
Entrance is from the West terrace from 7.30pm. The lecture will
start at 8.00pm.
This lecture has been arranged by the San Francisco Ceramic
Circle to coincide with the exhibit "Imps on a bridge: Wedwood
Fairyland and Other Lustres" running at the Long Beach Museum
of Art September 9th, 2001.
About the Lecture:
Early in the 20th century Wedgwood developed a remarkable
body of work called Fairyland Lustreware. Designed by artist Daisy
Makeig-Jones, Fairyland's inventive designs and visual opulence
captivated post World War I audiences just as its brilliant color
and fanciful subjects continue to capture our imagination today.
Lustreware with its characteristic opulent iridescent sheen
is thought to have originated in the Islamic near East in the
late 9th century reaching Spain with the Moorish conquests in
the 12th century and spreading to Italy and the rest of Europe
during the 16th and 17th centuries. Josiah Wedgwood's initial
experiments with lustre glazes were performed in 1776. This talk
surveys Wedgwood's Lustrewares from the first popular fashion
for lustreware in the early 19th century through the early 20th
century Fairyland lustres to the elegant modernist designs of
Keith Murray of the 30's and 40's.
About the Speaker:
Harold "Hal " Nelson has been Director of the Long
Beach Museum of Art since 1989. During his tenure the Museum has
increased its membership from 700 to over 1400, has undergone
a major renovation program and has achieved accreditation (enjoyed
by only 10% of US museums) from the American Association of Museums.
He has also established a formal education department that serves
over 25000 children in the Long Beach School District. Prior to
joining the Long Beach Museum of Art Hal held positions at the
American Federation of Arts, The Guggenheim Museum , and at the
Museum of Art and Archeology at the University of Missouri. He
has written numerous publications on American Art and the decorative
arts including one on delftware and the catalog for the current
exhibition.
Next meeting:
NOTE : WEDNESDAY September 26th, 2001. A lecture on early
Wedgwood and Spode "The Four Josiahs" by Robert Copeland,
Historical consultant to Spode, England