Frank Fidler

I thought this might be Alan Wallwork, but it just doesn't look the same in comparison to his stunning tiles. It's made by H & R Johnson and has a possible id mark on the back, but I'm not sure what it is.
It's 15cm x 15cm.
Can anyone help id who designed this please.

When you say "it's made by H&R Johnson" that is the manufacturer of the tile blanks that were used by potters/artists. Besides Johnson, Pilkington were another manufacturer that you often see.

People could buy the blanks, decorate and then fire them themselves.

It doesn't look like a Wallwork or one of the Clarks work stylistically but I do have a commercially produced tile that was designed by an artist called Frank Fidler. I'll try and dig it out and take a photograph.

It could be his, especially because of the F on the back.

dantheman wrote:I would love to have a Frank Fidler thread

He was by and large an artist but I do have some of his one off tiles too and some Japanese style plates................. so just for you. I'll need to dig them out.

I think this ought to confirm that this is one of Frank's tiles.

Frank Fidler (1910 - 1995) decided that he wanted to become an artist during the early 1920's while still at school, but was given no encouragement by his family. Therefore it was inevitable that upon leaving school he followed in his father's footsteps and became a nurseryman in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. During the 1930's Frank opened a greengrocer's shop in Waltham Cross and continued to sell fruit and vegetables from this and a further shop until 1954. It was in that year that he sold his businesses and vowed to spend the rest of his life creating art. A vow that he kept.

Frank Fidler was a self-taught artist, who finally began painting in 1947. From the very beginning he exhibited and sold his early figurative work. However, when Frank began painting full time in 1954 the influence of Abstract Expressionism and action painting was spreading to this country and Frank became hooked. A chance meeting with Jackson Pollock around that time also had a lasting effect. In 1957 he took part in his first major exhibition alongside other British artists in Moscow and the following year was included in the Paris exhibition "Towards the Future". From 1959 when he had his first solo exhibition there, Frank began exhibiting regularly at the Drian Gallery in London.

However, by the early 1960s Frank had started to make a little pottery and began decorating tiles that from the mid 1960s were sold in a number of outlets, including the Design Centre in London.

Here is one of his more commercial tiles

... and a one off tile signed on the back

.... and another one off tile made into a teapot stand or just framed. Signed on the back and dated 1963.

Here's a large earthenware plate.

.... and the back of the plate showing his signature.

Let's call this a Frank Fidler teabowl.

..... and the bottom of the bowl and mark.

Certainly does seem to confirm, thank you.
I must admit though, I hadn't heard of Frank Fidler before your reply, but I happen to have just read a very interesting biography on him.
I'm really thrilled with the outcome... this is the kind of thing I love to find.

Frank isn't well known and it was just fortunate that I saw it. I suspect there aren't many of the Design Centre leaflets around. Mine came from his estate with the rest of the items I have.

The "biography" will either have been the one that I wrote or else it has been nicked from my original. I've added a thread here on the Forum as well.

A separate thread concentrating on Frank Fidler's art can be found on this website at: - https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t29907-frank-fidler#206165

Here are some more of Franks tiles. These were obtained at the estate sale after his death along with some paintings. I have added pictures of these in the paintings thread.
My family lived a few houses down from Franks house in the village of Barkway.