Comprehensively Clarice Cliff - the very best of Clarice Cliff books
_{The Definitive Clarice Cliff Title by Greg Slater and Jonathan Brough}



30.8 x 24.0 cm
Hardback 448pp
With over 2000 illustrations,
1400 in colour

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In a nutshell, "Comprehensively Clarice Cliff" is indubitably all that it has been hyped up to be (and more!). No other reference work comes close to this level of detail in a survey of Clarice Cliff designs.

The book's authors promised to document the designs of Clarice Cliff and they have indeed covered virtually all the shapes and patterns that can be found in current day archives, including most of the post-1936 designs, the 1950's designs and those from the Wilkinson factory of the same periods. Comprehensively Clarice Cliff includes a short history of the subject but its forte is in its detailed examination of the shapes and patterns themselves. Hence it is a natural companion to existing narrative and historical works on Clarice Cliff.

The sheer volume of information necessary for such a comprehensive effort could easily have become a presentation nightmare, but the format, layout and organisation of the book is clear and commanding... innovative, even. In general, this reviewer found the presentation format highly digestible, visually advanced and easy to read cover-to-cover or selectively.


Photography

Throughout the book, pattern groupings and individual pieces are given generous space and consistent photographic backgrounds, allowing easy contemplation of the ceramic designs without the over-close juxtaposition of neighbouring pieces. Indeed, the pages are set out in such a way as to harmonise and compliment. Clarice Cliff is shown to be quite at home amongst today's minimalist visual tastes.

We sometimes hear the complaint that Clarice Cliff is hard to appreciate due to jarring colours and shapes presented in a confusing and haphazard way. In the new approach seen in this book, the single pattern photographs are logically presented either individually or in relevant groupings of (e.g., tea, fruit, sandwich or dinner sets), which leads to a level of visual clarity that has not previously been achieved.


Patterns uncovered

"Comprehensively Clarice Cliff" leaves behind the traditional approach of broadly chronological product sequences, which have been relied on in so many previous collector books, (including several of the well-worn Clarice Cliff ˜chestnuts' that we know and love so well!). In place of the broad chronological approach, the authors have intelligently categorised content into useful pattern ranges (e.g., Applique, Cafe au Lait), and pattern themes, (e.g., 'Abstract', 'Delecia', 'Floral', 'Scene', 'Trees'). Whilst all patterns are dated for those who are interested, the helpful pattern categories enable new and experienced collectors alike to easily locate specific patterns or revel in the stunning visual groupings that this work achieves.

The section on Wilkinson patterns is enlightening in view of new information uncovered by the authors: some patterns, previously attributed to Clarice Cliff, are now demonstrated to be Wilkinson patterns. The work also shines a spotlight on patterns by Dolly Cliff, who is now demonstrated to be a designer of some stature.

In addition to Dolly Cliff, look also for designs by Eric Elliott and John Butler of Oriflamme fame. Note how the Fred Salmon and Harold Walker designs sit easily amongst the Clarice Cliff. There is also a section on the "Art in Industry" series, and even a small section on Japanese copies from the same era!


Shapes on parade

The excellent pattern photographs throughout this large work are complemented by an extensive section covering both Wilkinson and Clarice Cliff shapes. The individual shapes are numbered and named as expected. Herein lies the only disappointing aspect of the book: there is no indication of which shapes are designed by Clarice Cliff vs Wilkinson designed shapes. (This probably has more to do with archive limitations and less to do with editorial decisions.) Perhaps the authors would consider adding additional information in a later edition.

Amongst the line-up of shapes, readers should pay particular attention to the splendid groupings of Bonjour, Conical, Daffodil, Lynton and Trieste shapes; and also the under-documented shape groupings of Celtic Harvest, Chestnut, My Garden and Indian Tree. These may well draw collectors into new areas.


A wealth of supporting detail

The book is supported by an extensive backstamp section and a Collectors' Guide discussing trends in conservation and restoration. This section serves up much food for thought, considering the number of restored pieces offered for sale today.

And as if that was not enough! The end notes are extensive with both archival facts and named references. This will be invaluable to those who are sceptical about attribution and wish to see for themselves. The factual and verifiable information provided in this book is probably its most important feature. Attribution and substantiation will no longer be housed in the minds of 'the experts'. In spite of this exhaustive research and documentation, the authors will no doubt receive criticism from some quarters! But it's hoped that this work will provide an authoritative and factual basis for a healthy debate on the full breadth of Clarice Cliff's vast output.

This book works well both as a coffee table book and as a lavishly illustrated reference. It is bound to become essential reading for everyone with a professional or personal interest in Clarice Cliff. Hats off to the authors and contributors. But most important of all, "Comprehensively Clarice Cliff" shows us that ultimately there is only one star of the show - the timeless designs of Clarice Cliff themselves.

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Canberra Times 6th August 2005

quote:

Comprehensively Clarice Cliff
By Greg Slater and Jonathon Brough

Reviewed by Doug Mulley.

Flicking through any of the previous half dozen or so books published about Clarice Cliff and her amazing Art Deco pottery, you'd see lots of colourful, valuable pottery and misty-eyed stories about how this famous ceramicist loved her gardening, but not much of what the typical collector really needs: factual information about the pottery pattern names, shape names, designers, painters, variations and dates. With the release of Comprehensively Clarice Cliff, all that has changed.

Authored by Canberran Greg Slater, an avid collector of Clarice Cliff and Wilkinson pottery for many years, this atlas (as it calls itself) contains the sort of meaty information long needed by both collectors and dealers of this striking range of Art Deco pottery.

The author conducted his research both in Australia and in England, where he spent many painstaking hours searching through the surviving Wilkinson pottery archives for that elusive piece of information which would help piece together the Clarice/Wilkinson jigsaw puzzle. The result is impressive. Covering the 1920s through to the 1950s, and containing over 2,000 illustrations (1,400 in colour), the book is divided into categories of pattern range, pattern theme, shapes and backstamps. And here's one of the major differences between this book and all others: Comprehensively Clarice Cliff also includes all of the better-known Wilkinson patterns, shapes and pattern numbers - something that has never been done before, and something that will finally put to rest the widespread confusion between some of the Clarice Cliff designs and many of the other similar patterns created by other Wilkinson designers, including Clarice's sister, Dolly Cliff!

The colour reproduction of all the 'top end' pieces is spectacular, but equally importantly, there are more images of Clarice, Wilkinson/Newport backstamps than you could poke a stick at! Put that together with an exhaustive shapes section and the chronological pattern numbers category, and you'd be hard pressed not to positively identify ANY piece of Wilkinson or Clarice pottery.

This hardcover bible of 448 pages is not merely another coffee table publication. It's an easy-to-use, 'hands on' information source which will quickly become the international standard reference point for all lovers and traders of this distinctive British pottery.

Comprehensively Clarice Cliff is published by Thames & Hudson Australia Pty. Ltd.

Secretary.
The Clarice Cliff Collectors Club.™
www.claricecliff.org

Please note: 'The Clarice Cliff Collectors Club' is registered as a 'Not For Profit Organisation' owned by its members and has no affiliations with 'Age Of Jazz Limited', formed in 2000 or its directors, Messrs Griffin & Hutton who include our registered name in their commercial trading style.

Lady Magazine (9-15th August)

quote:

Comprehensively Clarice Cliff.
(Thames & Hudson £48.00) by Greg Slater and Jonathan Brough is probably the most comprehensive source of Clarice Cliff pottery patterns, shapes, backstamps and pattern numbers ever devised.

On heavy quality paper, the art work is first class and for collectors, this has to be the "bible".

The dazzling ceramics of Clarice Cliff and of the Wilkinson Pottery that first encouraged her work in the 1920s are among the best of the renowned Staffordshire Potteries. Today, collecting Clarice Cliff is big business - there are over 700 items on sale every day on line and numerous auctions are held throughout the country.

One of the authors, Greg Slater, is editor of Agora, the magazine for Clarice Cliff collectors and he has spent many years researching this book. Its photographs will allow collectors to identify previously unknown patterns in their collection - some patterns have previously been incorrectly named by dealers, so it will help to sort out some misconceptions.

User-friendly, its colour-coded layout allows identification of over 2000 pieces. This very big and heavy book works out at less than £7 a pound and for enthusiastic collectors, it is worth every penny!

Michael Wilson.

The Lady is England's oldest established weekly magazine published ostensibly for women but with much content to interest both sexes. It was launched in 1885 by Thomas Gibson Bowles and has been based in its Covent Garden offices since 1891. Besides its eclectic mix of editorial features - which often includes art exhibition previews, informative articles on antiques and collectables, book reviews, celebrity interviews, opera and theatre reviews, it is also famous for its classified advertising, particularly for holiday lets here and abroad, nanny and staff jobs.
Stella Gibbons wrote Cold Comfort Farm when she worked for the magazine which is still privately owned, run by the grandchildren of the founder.

Secretary.
The Clarice Cliff Collectors Club.™
http://www.claricecliff.org

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World of Antiques and Art.
August 2005

quote:

Comprehensively Clarice Cliff.

In documenting the works of the English ceramic artist Clarice Cliff (1899-1972), Greg Slater and Jonathan Brough have produced an interesting interactive bible that throws new light on the countless 'rare' patterns which constantly emerge on the world markets of this very collectable pottery.

A concise introduction to Clarice Cliff, begins with a twelve year old starting her apprenticeship as a ceramic decorator at the traditional Lingard Webster & Co pottery in 1912 and follows her evolution as an artist. Moving to A J Wilkinson Ltd in 1916, where she developed her skills as a lithographer and modeller, Clarice embraced the new art movement of the 1920s and, with the support and confidence of her employers, began working on a range that interpreted the jazz age onto home and tablewares. What started as an experiment, metamorphosised into a cultural phenomenon that placed both Cliff and the Wilkinson pottery among the luminaries of the British art deco movement. This tome is a documentary testament of the creative output of this collaboration. With over 2000 illustrations and photographs, it is the quintessential collector's digest for both serious and casual enthusiasts.

Magnificently photographed, with faithful tone and vibrant colour, this book could take top position proudly on every coffee table; but it will also be sought after by antique dealers, curators and investors alike. Described by the publishers as 'an atlas', the format may be likened to that of silver hallmarking lexicons, where patterns, themes and shapes are cross-referenced against over one hundred backstamps and signatures, defining each piece's origin.

It is in this process that the volume of work emanating from the Wilkinson factory becomes apparent. By 1930, tens of thousands of pieces bearing the Clarice Cliff signature were being despatched from the factory annually. There were many talented hands involved in the aggrandizement of Clarice Cliff, from the poorly paid 'paintresses' of the Bizarre workshop, to more celebrated modern artists of the day such as Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, doyens of the Omega Workshop and the Bloomsbury set, who were commissioned to paint limited editions of studio ware; these now attract some of the highest prices on the world market.

It will be interesting to see how this publication affects the market for this ware. Once thought of as mere collectables, Clarice Cliff wares are now pursued by investors who, unfortunately, neither celebrate the visions of the artists nor the bravado of this colourful post World War I design movement. Clarice Cliff is now a much sought after commodity with record prices - of up to £15-20,000 - being realised in auction houses around the world. For those of us who in the past were lucky enough to unearth a piece of Clarice amongst the pickings of markets or at sales, we too are now as real as the jazz age past. This book represents the new age: look, learn, but don't touch.

Richie Dehne

Secretary.
The Clarice Cliff Collectors Club.™
www.claricecliff.org

Frances Laverack, Copeland & De Soos
Collectables Trader
August/September, 2005

quote:

Comprehensively Clarice Cliff.

This massive, all-encompassing book will become the bible to collectors of Britain's best-known early 20th century ceramics. Greg Slater has spent years in archival and oral research. The authors subtitle their magnum opus 'an atlas of over 2000 patterns, shapes and backstamps', and the wealth of full-colour photographs and archival minutiae provided allow identification and dating of the entire Wilkinson Pottery production, from the late 1920s to the 1950s. No discrimination has been made between the 'real' Clarice and other Wilkinson products, including the designs of John Butler, Dolly Cliff and several others.

A short précis of the company's history precedes the bulk of the book devoted to what really excites collectors - the multifarious, colourful, cheerful and occasionally vulgar designs that have become progressively more expensive, as this low-fired and easily damaged tableware is hunted down with remorseless purpose. The authors provide a 'how to use this book' guide, a vast black-and-white section on shapes, a bibliography, glossary, backstamp illustrations, endnotes, three indices to cross-reference - information to the max.

Comprehensively Clarice Cliff is just that: if you can't pin down that odd Bizarre piece that has been puzzling you from this lavish fount of knowledge, then you've probably got a Japanese copy - but there's a section for this too!

The vigour of Clarice Cliff's design has been captured so well that even novices may be swept away and dig deep in their pockets for the chance to learn how to tell their 'Rudyard' from their 'Honolulu'.

Secretary.
The Clarice Cliff Collectors Club.™
www.claricecliff.org

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The World of Interiors

quote:

Comprehensively Clarice Cliff.

This is a book for collectors and fans to pore over ... even those who fail to worship at the altar of Cliff will find a greater and more exciting range of designs than they might have imagined

Secretary.
The Clarice Cliff Collectors Club.™
www.claricecliff.org

A review of Comprehensively Clarice Cliff by Fiona Sibley (Assistant Editor of Ceramic Review) in the November/December edition of Ceramic Review (page 66).

What this review tells us is that Cliff is at home amongst serious ceramics. What other reviews show us is that she is equally at home in the World of Interiors; and that, I get the feeling, is what Clarice Cliff set out to achieve. The review unfortunately overlooks Jonathon's contribution,

quote:

Comprehensively Clarice Cliff is unprecedented in its scale of research; its author Greg Slater having spent years in the Wilkinson archives and carrying out interviews with surviving employees. Well thought-out and cross-referenced, the result is a overwhelming testimony to the remarkable contribution of the Wilkinson Pottery made to the explosion of creativity in the interwar years. Pleasingly, Slater's research identifies and credits the other paintresses and designers working at the pottery, including Cliff's supervisor John Butler, whose decorating techniques were imparted to her. . . Beautifully presented, this is more than a coffee table book. . .the book is a joy to pore over, marvelling at the sheer extent of the diversity in pattern and form. The section that classifies the shapes resembles a biology text, and revels in the under-sung joys of industrial production: those minor modifications among species placed accordingly within a structural genus. . .In such a book, scientific in its approach, one can appreciate the joy of form and decoration coming together; becoming greater than the sum of its parts. The introduction, perhaps ambitiously, makes a claim for Cliff ˜rewriting design' as she blurred the distinction between functional and decorative ware; but as her painting style rose in popularity she became a designer, creating new, angular shapes to support her Cubist, jazz-inspired decoration. . .Some designs are almost constructivist, paired down to lines, circles and squares, and here you are reminded of Cliff's trip to Paris, the capital of the avant-garde world, in 1927 before she created the first Bizarre ware. . . But this is not a critical book: it is the sort of un-curated encyclopaedia that encourages your own conclusions, tastes and connections to emerge. As the preface suggests, it will propel sectors of Cliff's lesser-known works to the public. Where Bizarre has traditionally proscribed ˜most collectable' at market, fluctuations in taste and idiosyncrasies among collectors can only be aided by this addictive, definitive work."

Fiona Sibley is Assistant Editor of Ceramic Review.

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Antiques Diary

quote:

Comprehensively Clarice Cliff.

The definitive book on the subject, and will be for generations to come

Secretary.
The Clarice Cliff Collectors Club.™
www.claricecliff.org

I found this mention of Comprehensively Clarice Cliff in The Guardian, it was apparently first published in September 2005 and follows a synopsis of her life and pottery.

quote:

its vigour is celebrated marvellously in Comprehensively Clarice Cliff, a large-format 450-page fully illustrated, expertly annotated record of her 2,000 patterns, shapes and backstamps. A bit excessive? Well, so was Clarice Cliff.

The praise for this wonderful book seems endless and quite rightly so!

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Wondering about the sales figures for Comprehensively Clarice Cliff to date, I looked on the Amazon site. It didn't tall me anything about the sales figures.

While I was there I noticed that someone calling himself Clarice Doctor "'Doc'" wrote a rather limp review of the book. He promoted his own book in the process.

quote:

contains way too many obscure 'low-end' Clarice Cliff patterns from the post-war era which are not really of interest to serious collectors

Is this individual a megalomaniac, doctor or omnipotent being? He seems to think he has the last word on who can be considered a serious collector.

The sycophant Aureaman also wrote a review.

quote:

I found on the internet that the Clarice Cliff Collector's Club members have worked out there are over 30 major designs and various shapes missing.

He 'found on the internet' did he? He was an active contributor on this very subject on a commercial web site.

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More from the sycophant:
The worst omission from the patterns section was the large My Garden range that was her best seller from 1934-1940.

You should read a little more carefully shouldn't you, Aureaman? Look at pages 361, 362 and 363. My Garden is a range of SHAPES and not PATTERNS and is quite rightly in the shapes section.

quote:

Frank W said on 4th April this year:
as I can recall in 1995 no one criticised the "Rich Designs" book, and certainly no one ever commented that there was anything "missing" from "Art of Bizarre". Its 7 years old now but still includes all the patterns most sought by CC collectors.

It's tempting to list all the missing patterns in this out dated story book but Frank W also appears to value only the 'most sought after' patterns.

Such exclusivity and snobbishness has no place in a genuine collectors' club. That kind of attitude sits more easily with a self-serving commercial site.

Please vote AGAINST these flimsy self-serving reviews. CCC on Amazon

I found another review of Comprehensively Clarice Cliff which was first published in October 2005 from a source well qualified to offer an opinion.

quote:

This is the ultimate book for the Clarice Cliff collector, or ANYONE interested in ANY aspect of the life and work of this very special British artist.

I wrote the predecessor, The Bizarre Affair with L Grifin. This book does what we attempted to do and goes so far beyond that I believe it will never be topped. The years since I built the most important collection and learned as much as possible at the time have added enormously to the knowledge of this potter. This new volume contains it ALL.
Louis K. Meisel

High praise indeed!

If you have enjoyed reading and learning from the definitive information found in Comprehensively Clarice Cliff and have an opinion to share with other collectors you can place your own review for the title on the website of Amazon, write an online review.

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