Wouldn’t a conversation with famed potter Lucie Rie be compelling?
Rie, whose life story is as awe-inspiring as her work, will be celebrated at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria this month when the exhibition, Conversations with Lucie Rie, opens Friday (Oct. 17).
One of the most influential potters of the 20th century, Rie achieved damehood in 1991, and is renowned for her modernist aesthetic of spare lines and textured surfaces.
Her career spanned seven decades during the 20th century and culminated in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1994 to 1995 – the year of her death.
Rie was born in Vienna in 1902, and was forced to leave behind a burgeoning arts career when she fled from the Nazis in 1938 to England. In London, Rie re-established herself through her own artistic language and studio at Albion Mews.
“The exhibition considers the development of Rie’s work and the impact she had on her contemporaries and subsequent generations of artists, curators, collectors, and admirers,” said Toby Lawrence, the exhibition’s curator. “It also highlights the friendships and dialogue she established through her practice as a studio potter.”
The Gallery will have 19 of Rie’s pieces in its collection. All but one of the works were donated by B.C. resident Nedra Jane Paul, a teacher who purchased the pieces in 1967.
Also on exhibit from the AGGV’s collection will be a pot by Hans Coper, Rie’s cherished friend and studio assistant from 1947-1958, and two works by renowned British potter Bernard Leach, with whom Rie studied.
As well as including works by Rie, Coper, and Leach, the exhibition will feature two contemporary works, a collage portrait titled Dame Lucie Rie by the late Canadian artist, Stephen Andrews, as well as a video of the performance Lucie Rie vs. Grindcore by British multi-disciplinary artist Keith Harrison.
The AGGV will host Harrison in Victoria, where he will present a public artist talk at Camosun College on Oct. 28, at 2:30 p.m.
For more information, please go online to aggv.ca.