Currently indexing

Sculpture

Classification(s):
Pottery
Date: c. 1951 - 1976
Maker: Ian Auld (British, 1926 - 2000)
Dimensions:
228 × 205 mm (22.8 × 20.5 cm)
Medium: Stoneware
Object number: P948A
DescriptionStanding stoneware slab-built sculpture, by Ian Auld. The sculpture has a rectangular cut out in the centre and protruding shapes around its edges.

The label gives the ILEA number, price and potter’s name “I.Auld P948A £9.45”.
The potter’s stamp is to the base.



ProvenanceThis object was originally acquired for the Inner London Education Authority’s (ILEA) ‘Circulating Design Scheme’ collection.

The collection was instigated by the London Country Council (later the Greater London Council) and the Council of Industrial Design (COID). The collection’s original purpose was concerned with the teaching and dissemination of modern, ‘good design’.

The collection was established in 1951/52 as the ‘Experiment in Design Appreciation’, later renamed the ‘Circulating Design Scheme’.

The Circulating Design Scheme lent boxed showcases to London schools. The showcases contained handling objects, material samples and interpretation on a specific subject.

COID withdrew its involvement in the Scheme in 1957. After which time, it was managed exclusively by the London County Council from 1957-1963.

After the administrative restructuring of London authorities, the Scheme was jointly managed by the Greater London Council and the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) from 1963 – 1976.

The Scheme was operational until 1976 when the collections were withdrawn from circulation. ILEA was abolished in the late 1980s and the collection was donated to Camberwell College of Arts in 1989/90.

ILEA was responsible for secondary and tertiary education in the inner London boroughs, this included Camberwell.

Notes
Ian Auld trained at Brighton College of Art and later the Slade School of Fine Art, where he studied painting and printmaking. Auld’s interest in ceramics emerged after during his teacher training at the University of London’s Institute of Education. In 1954 Auld went to Bagdad, Iraq and established a pottery department in an art school. It was at this time that he travelled extensively around the Middle East. As well as a major collector of African material culture, Auld was a pioneer hand-builder. He used the slab technique to make a variety of bottles, dishes and vessels. On returning to England, he taught at the Central School and also began teaching at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts. While at Camberwell he produced his most impressive work, slab-built pots inspired by Middle Eastern architecture, ash-glazed in subdued colours. By 1966 Auld was sharing a studio with fellow ceramicist Gillian Lowndes, who was to become his life partner. Auld became Head of Ceramics at Camberwell in 1974, retiring in 1985.