If there is anything to rival cake for sheer Britishness then we are sure trying to find it. In the wake of Bake Off, new mediums must be found to define this funny old isle; and the new craze for plastic national pride appears to be pottery.
Henry Willett, Brighton Museum founder and pottery clad eccentric, thoroughly believed that popular culture could be captured in six inches of clay and the Willett Collection of Art and Pottery really wants to prove that.
Henry Willett, Brighton Museum founder and pottery clad eccentric, thoroughly believed that popular culture could be captured in six inches of clay and the Willett Collection of Art and Pottery really wants to prove that.
The real charm of the exhibition lies in its minutiae. Face to the glass and eyes peeled, you find the impeccable detail that make the pieces’ history sing.
Hidden behind a much grander, more beautiful urn, is a 18th Century man whose head has been peeled open to turn him into a jug; he doesn’t look best pleased. With a little snooping, it’s revealed he is a lowly Officer, sat grumpily behind a commemoration to his Major’s accolades.
In this we find part of the charm of Britain’s bitty and somewhat absurd history in clay, it is for the audience to discern.
The head of a dodo sits next to a pirate violinist, and looking past a Politician’s bust shows a boy with his hands down his pants, somehow far more British. Along with the bizarre section headings, ‘Field Sports’ to ‘Domestic Events’, the whole experience is like walking through a collection of Nursery Rhymes.
The head of a dodo sits next to a pirate violinist, and looking past a Politician’s bust shows a boy with his hands down his pants, somehow far more British. Along with the bizarre section headings, ‘Field Sports’ to ‘Domestic Events’, the whole experience is like walking through a collection of Nursery Rhymes.
Initially the scale of what is on show is a little impersonal. Hidden by glass. It is only when moving face to porcelain face it becomes warmly familiar.
Quite surprisingly, the collection coheres in its absurdity. It is quaint, funny and thoroughly British. The BBC has moved onto the Great Pottery Throwdown, and Willetts collection is the prime way to show that this baked silliness is long ingrained in British Culture.
