Aucton House Bonhams will hold their first dedicated International Contemporary Ceramics auction in New York, USA on Tuesday 5 June 2007. This groundbreaking and diverse sale will feature the most ambitious post-war Contemporary Ceramic Art representing several countries including Britain, America, Japan, France, Spain, Denmark, Mexico and Kenya.

Bonhams Director of Contemporary Ceramics, Ben William, comments, “The artists that I chose to include in this sale are those who pushed boundaries, those who challenged us to reject any preconceived ideas of what role a ‘potter’ has in society and more importantly, asserting their position in the art world. They are those who asked ‘why’ they should do something rather than ‘how’ and then realised this by demonstrating an incredible affinity with the medium in which they chose to work. This is a diverse sale, our most ambitious to date. I’ve been rigorous with my selections bringing only the best pieces that are available, and I think that the items on offer here do justice to the tremendous ambition and skill of these artists. The old ‘craft or art’ debate is now redundant - where do we go from here?”

Ceramicists work that will be represented in this sale include: Alison Britton (British, b.1948) - Britton is considered a leading figure of the ‘RCA’ group: women who emerged as major contributors to ceramic art in the 1970s. Her angular vessel forms are slab built, often with the gestural painted decoration applied to the slabs before construction, so that the surfaces appear more like a painted canvas than a glazed pot. A large abstracted Jug Form produced in 1996 of earthenware and blue and brown paint is estimated at $4,000-6,000.

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Posted: 05|31|07 at 4:00 pm. Filed under: Auction News.