The Ceramic Art Of James Tower

James Tower (1919-88) is widely regarded as one of the most distinctive figures in post-war British ceramics. Since his death over 20 years ago, his work has been often cited for its dramatic visual qualities, its subtle exploration of the boundaries of art and craft, and its lyrical integration of references to nature and the cosmos into an essentially abstract language of form and surface decoration. This is the first single publication to be devoted to his work and will reveal to a new audience the extraordinary range and quality of his achievement. Tower's career was unusual in inhabiting the worlds of fine art and ceramics which, in the 1950s and 1960s, still had only a low level of inter-penetration. Teaching at Corsham brought him into contact with some of the pioneering painters of post-war abstraction, including William Scott, Peter Lanyon and Howard Hodgkin, and as a potter Tower showed his work alongside Bernard Leach and Lucie Rie, contributing to a re-definition of modern craft. During the 1960s and 1970s he worked in white terra cotta and bronze, representing a diversity of sculptural practice during a period in which sculptors such as Anthony Caro and Phillip King were experimenting with new materials. From the late 1970s until his death, Tower concentrated again on glazed ceramic forms and was a highly original contributor to the 'New Ceramics'. This book provides a comprehensive visual document of Tower's work, incorporating a complete illustrated catalogue. It includes a detailed and authoritative biography, setting Tower in the social and artistic context in which he lived and worked.

*Monograph on the influential ceramicist James Tower*This centenary volume represents Tower's complete artistic output*Accompanies an exhibition at the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK, 21 September - 24 November 2019James Tower (1919-1988) is best known for his elegant forms in glazed earthenware. During a career spanning four decades, from the 1950s to the 1980s, he worked unceasingly in a wide variety of media to achieve an elusive harmony of shape and surface, form and decoration, inert material and active design. His personal understanding of the purpose and meaning of abstraction embodies a perpetual dialogue between the visible world and the unseen dynamics which shape it. This centenary volume of essays considers Tower's entire output from a wide variety of perspectives, embracing paintings and drawings, as well as sculpture in bronze, terracotta and fiberglass. The contributions of leading critics and historians approach his work, situated at the junction of art, craft and design, in a broad historical and cultural context, illuminating key episodes in postwar British art, and Tower's unique place within it.This book accompanies an exhibition at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK, 21 September - 24 November 2019

A comprehensive and lavishly illustrated monograph of one of the most important American ceramic artists

IN writing the present volume, the author's object has been to answer as tersely and lucidly as possible the more important questions in connection with the history and manufacture of pottery and porcelain, and to bring the results of recent research to bear upon some of the unsolved problems of the "science of ceramics." The literature of the subject is formidable in dimensions. Authors have divided the field into sections, and have in many cases presented learned and exhaustive special treatises. Notwithstanding the solid learning and critical acumen reflected in their pages, their form and voluminous character, however, detracted from their value as books for familiar and speedy reference, and left the acquirement of a general knowledge of the ceramic art a matter for wide research and prolonged study on the part of every reader and collector. The attempt has here been made to condense the leading points of the subject, to arrange them after a simple and easily intelligible method, and thus to present in one volume a comprehensive history. No hesitation has been shown in drawing upon foreign authors. Many of the later developments of the art have also been touched upon, and the results of the more recent efforts of artists and manufacturers have been illustrated and described. In treating of America, the author has endeavored to convey some idea of its wealth in materials and of the present condition and tendencies of the industry, and to do justice to those who have laid the foundation of its claim to recognition in the world of art.