Provenance:
Peter Dingley Collection
His sale, Mallam’s Oxford, Design & Modern Art, 5 December 2019, lot 44
Executed in the early 1970s.
Pearson had begun his career as a traditional potter, studying with both Ray Finch and David Leach and until the mid-1960s his work was very much in the functional and domestic vein. However, in the later 1960s he began to work with new forms and particularly the ‘winged’ vessels for which he has become rightly known. An exhibition in 1971 of over 100 pots in either black or white attracted great notice and this pot, from the collection of renowned gallerist and promoter of studio ceramics Peter Dingley, is an early example of Pearson’s work in this manner.
These pots contrast a simplicity of form with the complex surfaces created by the torn and manipulated elements and have a very powerful presence. The matt black glaze captures the light and enhances the shadows and textures of the surface to make a bold statement of almost sculptural intent.
