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Marguerite Mahood exceptional pierced pottery lidded vase…
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Melbourne
Date:
7-Dec-2021
Lot No.
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Description:
Marguerite Mahood exceptional pierced pottery lidded vase adorned with two winged dragons, titled 'Gothic', circa 1936, lid and base signed 'Marguerite Mahood, Gothic No.1570', 33 cm high. Illustrated in 'Australian Art Pottery 1900-1950', by Fahy, Freeland, Free and Simpson [Casuarina press, Syd. 2004], plate 295. Marguerite Henriette Mahood (1901–1989), was born in July 1901 at Richmond, Melbourne. She was educated at Mrs Strickland's school, Armadale, and Presbyterian Ladies' College, East Melbourne, before attending drawing classes at the National Gallery school of drawing with Frederick McCubbin. During the 1920s Mahood established herself as a professional artist, producing drawings, watercolours, linocuts and oil paintings. Her early work showed enduring influences — the romantic aesthetic of the Pre-Raphaelite and Art Nouveau movements and a fascination with history and fantasy. In 1931 she enrolled in a new pottery course at the working men's College (now Rmit University). Finding the rudimentary training inadequate, she left to teach herself from technical books at the public library of Victoria. Over the following twenty-five years she produced highly decorated and vibrantly glazed earthenware ceramics, ranging from domestic ware to intricate figurines and exquisitely carved filigree ware. Inspired by Asian and Islamic ceramics, European commercial Potteries such as Sevres, Meissen and Wedgwood, and English Art pottery of the late 19th century, Mahood was also drawn to Neo-Gothic motifs: playful dragons appeared repeatedly in her work. A Herald newspaper reviewer described her in 1935 as 'Unique among Victorian pottery workers in her colour range . . . A mistress of the dark rites of firing and glazing'. Meticulously numbered and often bearing her distinctive monogram, her work is easily identifiable. Detailed 'Kiln books' ensured she avoided repeating mistakes and was able to continually refine her technique. In January 1935 she wrote: 'An imagination that can play and dream is not the only qualification for a craftsman. There is work, too - hard, solid, prosaic work.... It means compounding glazes and preparing clay, and bearing with a stoic heart the disappointments that laborious, but unsuccessful, experiment brings - but finally it means the triumph of holding the work at last between the two hands that brought it forth from the formless earth.' the Morgan collection is rich in Mahood's wonderful work.
Estimate:
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Price:
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Category:
Unclassified