Thursday 10 January 2019

Gordon Baldwin: the Anthony Shaw collection, York Art Gallery




Over the last 40 years Anthony Shaw has acquired a significant collection of over 1,000 works of art, focusing largely on contemporary ceramics. This collection is now on loan to York Art Gallery.






There is a real problem with space in the ceramics rooms: it's difficult to appreciate individual pieces and it all gets too much. I have tried my best in photographing the Gordon Baldwin pieces. If you want to see more of Baldwin's work you can go  here , and  here


















































































































6 comments:

  1. It was interesting to see that they change the Anthony Shaw displays; there were more Baldwins there this time. I noticed that you had actually taken a photo of the Curneen figure - I've used that photo of yours to illustrate my post on Rie, with a link to your blog.

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    1. Olga, I am going mad, that's the only explanation for this. How could I have missed the Curneen? I am so sorry, because it looked wonderful on her website, and I would have liked to have seen it closely and 'in the flesh' so to speak. But, I do know why: there was so much on display and my brain just shuts down. Thanks for pointing this out.

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    2. Oh, I completely understand the shutting down phenomenon. Indeed I usually ignore as much as possible of things other than the exhibitions I visit. There is usually room for only one or two pieces to be seriously considered at any one session. So, no madness involved!

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    3. You're right, of course. One of the things I found hard at the gallery, besides the huge amount of pots, was the fact that they were all jumbled up together: there did not seem to be any sort of classification or order, so I ignored a lot of the stuff in the cabinets in the Shaw room because a lot of it was traditional pottery, which does not greatly interest me, but then I would suddenly notice something that did interest me, and then my attention would wander again to the Baldwins.

      Having seen your post, I do feel that I have missed out, but there you go.

      It's a great shame about the café. We had a very tasty lunch there, and found the staff very helpful.

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  2. The last photograph shows a Baldwin I hadn’t seen before but must be part of the same series as the simple pillared bowl of his which Colin gave me...lovely. I asked the Oxford Gallery to let me have first refusal on the huge rocking bowl of his they had in the last exhibition. They duly sent me the details and price before the exhibition...£6500...so it went to another good home! And to think I didn’t buy one when they were £600!

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    1. I am not sure that the Baldwin at the Oxford Gallery has been sold - it was still there last time I visited. They are very expensive indeed, but it was to be expected - they are magnificent.

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