Product Description

Clarice Cliff was one of the most prominent ceramic designers of the twentieth century. Born in 1899 in the Staffordshire Potteries, she started work as just another factory girl, but by 1928 had launched her own range of pottery, 'Bizarre'. A 'gargantuan feast of colour', it blazed a trail through the homes of inter-war Britain. But if Clarice Cliff's rise from apprentice gilder to art director was remarkable - and all the more so for her being a woman - it was not without its tensions; for years she conducted a secret relationship with her married boss. Fusing art, design and industry and vividly conveying the texture of women's lives between the wars, this is a compelling study of the complex, talented woman whose work is for many the epitome of art deco.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #164644 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review
'A thoughtful and fascinating biography, packed with fabulous pictures' Image 'Knight deftly uses Cliff's life and work as a way to view broader currents in Britain: increased social mobility, greater (though still limited) independence for women, and changes in domesticity towards smaller houses and fewer servants. At the centre is Cliff herself, a woman who inspired admiration as well as snobbish opprobrium for her vivid designs and ambitiousness' Financial Times 'Knight's evocative life of Clarice Cliff is both biography and social analysis and it reads like a very sophisticated folk tale ...[She] has done wonders in building up a picture of a woman of exceptional self-reliance and determination' Fiona MacCarthy, Guardian 'A fascinating read' Time Out

Time Out
‘A fascinating read’

Fiona MacCarthy, Guardian
‘Knight’s evocative life of Cliff is both biography and social analysis and it reads like a very sophisticated folk tale’

Customer Reviews

Possibly/Probably/Perhaps...
The author is to be congratulated for her ability to spin out a handful of facts into a full-blown book.

This biography is little more than an endless round of conjecture. Ms Cliff herself appears to have left little written record (No Diaries, Few Letters, etc.) and further appears to have been so intensely private that no one who knew her has anything insightful to contribute. So, instead, we get endless social history wrapped around what little factual record there is.

The Pottery Gazette is referenced ad nauseum - as if a trade rag is going to shed much light on the enigmatic Ms Cliff or her work.

Her long-term romantic involvement with her boss is introduced as a given but not supported or substantiated by any reference or commentary as to how or when or even why it started - it just "is". Why would the "handsome", "rich", "upper-crust" Colley Shorter have got together with his social inferior who was also, let's face it, no oil painting? That particular mystery is not only left unsolved but also unaddressed. And, given that said relationship was fundamental to her success, it is notable by it's absence.

Really, there might be enough here to warrant an interesting magazine article but a biography? I think not!

Devoured in one read
I was introduced to Clarice Cliff's work by this biography. It was a present but I found myself unable to put it down and read it in one session. She is a fascinating woman. I admire her tenacity and the book gives a little insight into why she was so impassioned. Overall, however, she is still a mystery. The good thing was this book led me to buy some academic ones on her pottery, which I'm pleased to say I now own three pieces of.

Clarice Cliff
This was purchased as a birthday gift and the recipient was highly delighted with it and looked forward to reading it. She thought the pictures in the book were really good.