Hans Coper and Pupils Press Release
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Hans Coper, Lucie Rie & Pupils Hans Coper, Spade Form (1967) height 19 cms. Image: Michael Harvey Influential potter Hans Coper (1920-1981) was a champion of arts education. “His teaching had the same integrity and strength as had his pots; graceful, direct, precisely and sensitively tuned...” 1 In this his centenary year, Oxford Ceramics Gallery celebrate this element of Coper’s work with their forthcoming exhibition Hans Coper, Lucie Rie and Pupils (15th May - 4th July) A leader in the development of ceramics in the twentieth century Coper taught at Camberwell and then at Royal College of Art alongside his own teacher and mentor Lucie Rie (1902 - 1995). 1 Tony Birks. Hans Coper. (New York: Harper & Row, 1983), 61. Group of works by Lucie Rie on shelf including Bronze Vase (central) alongside a coffee pot and jug with white glaze and pulled handles. Newly sourced examples of Coper’s work are shown alongside fine examples from Lucie Rie and key works from the following generation of their pupils who went on to define the range and creative brilliance of British Studio Pottery. Exhibitors in- clude: Alison Britton, Elizabeth Fritsch, Ian Godfrey, Ewen Henderson, Jacqueline Poncelet & John Ward. Alison Britton, White Jar (1991) 34 x 46 x 19.5 cm. image: James Fordham. Born in Chemnitz, Germany, Hans Coper (1920-1981) came to England in 1939 as an engineering student and in 1946 he began working as an assistant to the Austrian potter Lucie Rie (1902-1995) in her studio in London, taking him on with no formal training in ceramics. Coper and Rie went on to exhibit together throughout the 1950s and their works continue to be displayed alongside each other today. Coper estab- lished his independent studio in 1958. The artist is known for his highly sculptural but functional approach to form with subtle monochromatic tonal variations. Many of his pots have the simple function of flower vases, fruit bowls and candlestick holders but are complex in their build. Coper used a minimal set of materials in creating his work - clay as material, wheel to create form. He always threw his pieces on his potter’s wheel but finished and assembled shapes by hand. He followed the architect Mies van de Rohe’s famous dictum “less is more”. Coper was widely collected in in his own lifetime and work can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich and York Art Gallery as well as the Ashmolean Museum - www.ashmolean.org/event/hans-coper Since his death in 1981 Coper has continued to be celebrated through major exhibitions of his work. This current celebration owes a debt to the important 1990 Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts exhibition Hans Coper, Lucie Rie and Pupils which toured to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge in 1991. Hans Coper, Lucie Rie and Pupils 15th May - 4th July 2020 Oxford Ceramics Gallery For further information please visit our website www.oxfordceramics.com or email at leigh@oxfordce- ramics.com.