Alison Britton

Alison Britton OBE one of that select group of female potters who emerged from the RCA in the 70's. She has an International reputation and is widely represented in British Museums. These pieces are on show in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge.

   

This is a piece from my personal collection ,it stands17.5 inches tall and heavy with it.although i know its not to every taste but i find her pieces from this period very sculptural.I would be interested in comments (good or bad) on this potters work.

I think Paul Rice put it just about right
     '  Had I been askedi n 1980 who would be the most important British potter of the 1980's and 90's, I would have chosen Alison Britton. If she has failed to live up to this high expectation.it is undoubtedly due to her divided time.'
               Writer, teacher, critic, mother Crafts Council  Member et al. She did not spend enough time potting. Is this pot of yours from the 80's?  There are a number of collectors who really like her work, but iican't say I am overwhelmed by it. Not that I could afford one!
             Give me quirky Carol Mcnicoll (another potter somewhat underestimated nowadays) or the painterly heights of Liz Fritsch!

hi, dates from 87, i have never  managed to buy a piece of liz fritsh ,good pieces of  her work don't  turn up on the market very often and i have always been out bid , i think i read somewhere that she offers the pick of her new work to museums first,as for mcnicholl i quite like some of her pieces but her association with series ware tends to put me off a bit.

Not much of her work comes to auction it seems. But what has been sold not seem to have gone for huge sums. Its the same with Carol Mcnicoll. When compared to the relative stratospheric prices for De Waal, Odundo, Coper and Rie pupils have been getting, her work does seem somewhat out of fashion.

hi, i agree that prices for fritsch have slowed but i think until enough good pieces come to the market its to early say if she has lost favour. On another note the predicted downturn in the economy could have a detrimental effect on all mid range art based markets later this year.

The "colourful" females potters of the 1970s/80s were often selling for much higher prices back then than they are now and several have been completely forgotten.

Personally, I have never had any interest in that type of work and it tends to leave me completely cold. That doesn't mean that it's good or bad, just not to my taste.

Having said that, I have just seen some images of a piece of Alison Britton's work that I really like, so thanks for posting, croker.

15,6 cms high. It was exhibited in a 1980 Solo exhibition in 1980. Auction estimate back in the 1990's was £600-£900.

Entitled 'Brown Cleft pot'. 35.5 cms high.

Big Pot With Collar. 1990. Presented to COCS by Ed Wolf in2015

Pink and White Pot. 1999.Presented by Ed Wolf  to COCA in 2015

The Title is the one used by COCA.   I like this one a lot.

BROWN JUG 1998. Presented to COCA in 2015 by Ed Wolf.

The title is the one that COCA gives it!

I bought this piece recently and thought it might be of interest, Alison Britton's work seems to be quite scarce in the market and her early work rarely comes up for sale, this piece comes from her first exhibition at the Almalgam gallery in 1976 ,these tile plaques were priced at £24 each and the jugs around a £100 for a set ,at this time i believe she took commissions for interior work, bathrooms etc., these tiles seem to have been inspired by Egyptian tomb motifs.

That is a very intetresting piece! Very different from most of her work. A bit twee the Studio pottery market. Not surprised that these were aimed at the decorative market.

I think this was a period when Alison Britton along with Carol mc Nicholl and Jaquie Poncelet were all still finding their way, all their work changed radically in the 80's.