Joanna Constantinidis

After having an item by this lady identified on this forum I was surprised to see that she did not have a dedicated page, so this is hopefully an appropriate way of correcting that.




Attached are pictures of the pot identified on this forum with the burned in C mark used by Joanna. There are other potters who use a similar C mark and can be mistaken for Joanna. But she does have a certain style to her work and a quick google search will give you an idea of the types of items she made. From what I have researched this style of vessel was produced in the late 1970's. I have not been able to find much work for sale but demand does appear to be high for what she made. Auction sales would seem to support the idea she is in the top 5% of studio pottery artists.

If you want to see Joanna Constantinidis work,then the best collection is in Chelmsford Museum. The National Arts Collection purchased 32 pieces from her estate on her death,and presented them to Chelmsford Museum.Which was only right,as she spent almost her entire career teaching at Chelmsford College.
This link is to the Arts collection purchase and photographs of the work.
http://www.artfund.org/supporting-museums/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/9135/32-pots-joanna-constantinidis

I have in the past seen a number of wood-fired stoneware pots with ash glazes appearing on auction sites as being by Joanna, as they have a C mark.

She did nothing like that during her career and the ones that I have seen have been by Clare Sutcliffe, who used to pot in Sussex. Clare's C was slightly different in any case.

This stoneware vase is 17.5 inches tall (44.5 cm) and was made around 1983.

I sold it recently for around one third of what it made in auction in 2000.

I really like her work. It comes across as very simple at first but from what I have read this was a process she aimed for. Stripping away glaze and design to get back to a almost raw state. To me it is interesting and has a direction that appears all her own.

Attached is a link to a Christies sale of some very similar designed pots to the one above from 2002
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-joanna-constantinidis-stoneware-vase-3933480-details.aspx?pos=190&intObjectID=3933480&sid=

From what little I have been able to find on sale no one can add anything of hers to a collection without spending around £200 or more. But I guess a few years back they could have been a lot higher from what has been said? No idea really though.

I think that little appears these days because people don't want to make a loss (you have an advantage with your piece). I did on the tall vase above but I bought it along with a Bernard Leach vase that I made a significant profit on so could afford to. I'd had it for too long and my regular customers had all seen it and passed on it.

Footed porcelain vessel.  

Her work sells for very good auction prices in East Anglia.Which is where she lived all her professional life. An 8 inch wavy vase went for £420 hammer price in Reeman Dansie last week.
The interesting part of her work is the domestic cups and plates she did when she retired. There are a number of pieces in the V&A collection.

These photos are all frpm the Joanna Contsnatinidis collection at Chelmsford Museum.

Unidentified bowl moved to ID My Pottery
https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t22117-mystery-bowl-not-constantinidis

At the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge.

At the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge,

A the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge.

At the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge.

The intriguing thing is that Joanna Constantinidis's reputation was revived when after retirement she made very high quality plates,cups and saucers etc. Several of these sets are in the V&A.

hi, did anyone tune in to maak today for the constantinidis pipe form for £15000

I started a thread on that myself. Just two people drove that piece up from about £1,400. Most of the other Constantinidis lots in that sale went much higher as well. Although the sale itself was fairly standard fare.
She was going for a fair amount of money in the Bonhams and Christies sales 25 years ago. But has languished relatively price wise since her death. There was nothing particularly special about this one. About 4 or 5 years Adam Partridge had some of her really big 30 in or so ones made in the mid 70's. Now they were superb! But nearly all went in the £1000-£1500 range.
Somebody thinking she is another Big New thing? Never mind she had been dead for 20 years!

hi,I found this price this £15,000 price tag amazing, these bent pipe forms don't seem to be that rare, i was offered one similar about three years ago for £750(should have bought it).The john ward pots done well in the sale as did most of the maltbys,i managed to buy one henderson piece in the sale.

The Maltby's and Wards went for about their market worth nowadays. Although a couple of the Maltbys did not sell.

hi, when i said they did well, i consider any item that even holds its price in any collectors market as doing well, like yourself i have been around for along time and seen many markets come and go for instance majolica, staffordshire figures ,doulton stoneware, brannum and numerous others , we had good trade in the 80s and 90s with most of these but now items like staff figures are almost give away.I think the two maltby pieces that did not sell were very poor.

Looking back 20-25 years is actually quite interesting in Studio Pottery. The names have not changed all that much. Joanna Constantinidis from that time was roughly comparable with John Ward in prices band. While John Ward has leapt up sharply in price in the last 5 years, Joanna Constantinidis prices have stayed much the same.
Clearly some people are trying to shift her prices up. Every Constantinidis piece in the recent Maak auction went a good deal higher than estimates. Especially when her estimates tend to be on the higher end of the scale. Indeed there is no reason why her prices should not he higher. She was a very innovative and ground breaking potter and an excellent one at that. But £15,000 on that 'Body Pot' does seem a little OTT!

This vase has always reminded me of a human torso.

The interesting thing about Joanna Constantinidis's work of this type is how different it appears in different lights. Same piece as above, just different light.

An extraordinary tall Black vas from 1971, In the collection of the Hepworth Gallery Wakefield. Its quite unlike anything I have seen of Joanna Constantinidis work before.

Two large spiral vases from the Bill Ismay at the York COCA.