Robert Johnson Washington

Robert Johnson Washington, potter and educator: born London 2 May 1913; married 1939 Marjorie Terry (died 1996; one son), 1996 Su Lapesco (one daughter); died Little Baddow, Essex 17 November 1997.

Robert Washington was as inventive and creative in his teaching as he was in his ceramics.

Born in south-east London, Bob Washington showed early promise as an artist, entering Goldsmiths' College in 1930 to study painting before moving on to the RCA. After three years in the painting school he went to the pottery department. The department was headed by William Staite Murray, one of the leading potters in Britain, an influential and charismatic if sporadic teacher. Murray had firm views about the status of pots, distancing himself from their craft associations and arguing that pots should be seen as fine art, an attitude which seemed entirely right to Washington, one of the liveliest students.

Teaching at Derby College of Art was interrupted by war service m. After the war, Washington resumed teaching ceramics at Derby, making an impression on the students as a conscientious and dedicated lecturer, going on to become principal first of Dewsbury and then Margate schools of art. He maintained his own studio too, producing pots under the clear influence of Murray, but with his own idiosyncratic interpretation of the figure; and exhibited in the Festival of Britain.

After a nomadic life moving his family round the country, he was appointed Art Inspector for Essex. Retirement in 1979 brought fresh opportunities and a renaissance in his work with clay. He was ever alert to new developments within ceramics. At this time he was best known for his impressive tall, thrown bottle forms with a strong anthropomorphic element, an impression heightened by his use of spiky painted decoration depicting female figures which seemed to be engaging with the pot, giving the work the added edge of surrealism. He had. solo exhibition at Anatol Orient gallery in London in 1988 he made a comeback with a series of new work consisting of large platters which were inventive in both their imagery and surface treatment. Work was also shown at Paul Rice, London. A new relationship with a young ceramic student, Su Lapesco, stimulated his experimental approach to clay, leading him to investigate cratered and textured glazes and to integrate such effects into his ceramics.

One of Washington's major contributions to ceramics was to continue the fight for its recognition as fine art

NaomiM wrote:It’s the first mark in his entry in the Marks book so an early piece I expect. Shouldn’t really discuss value but it’s £75 in a local antiques shop and I was going to email the dealer with the ID. Seems about the right price to me for something that’s not his signature style.

studio-pots wrote:Well done. What is the height?