Dish

Classification(s):
Pottery
Date: c.1951 - 1976
Maker: Anthony 'Tony' Hepburn (1942 - 2015)
Dimensions:
65 × 146 mm (6.5 × 14.6 cm)
Medium: Stoneware
Object number: P1114C
DescriptionGlazed stoneware dish with cut trim, dry blue glaze and molten glass decoration, made by Tony Hepburn. The dish has a blue glaze on the exterior with a red glaze to the base of the bowl. The dish is possibly an ashtray.

A label to side reads “P1115C £2 (Pep. Image.) Tony Hepburn”.


ProvenanceThis object was originally acquired from The Crafts Centre of Great Britain.

This 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The Scheme was operational until 1976 when the collections were withdrawn from circulation.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.

NotesThis object was circulated to London schools as part of the Inner London Education Authority’s (I.L.E.A) Circulating Design Scheme, which operated from 1951-1976. The round dish by Tony Hepburn featured in the ‘Pop, Folk, Modern’ group in case number 1. The boxed showcase introduced the ‘pop art’ movement and described how it influenced British culture. It also introduced ‘folk art’, describing it as the output of “ordinary folk who had not been trained as professional artists”. This object was originally acquired from The Crafts Centre of Great Britain. The associated record card indicates the boxed showcase was in use from 1968-76. Original photograph of boxed showcase by Harold King (Photography) Ltd, Morden, Surrey.

Trained at Camberwell College of Arts, Tony Hepburn was renowned for his distinct, conceptual sculptures, as well as his lifelong career as an educator. After briefly teaching in England, Hepburn took a position as a visiting artist and Head of Crafts at the Art Institute of Chicago during 1974-75. In 1976 Hepburn became Head of the Division of Art and Design at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He continued as a professor of ceramics until 1992.