The History of Ceramics brings together British art historian & curator Paul Greenhalgh and U.S. maker and academic Stephanie Rozene as they reveal the most compelling stories from this often-overlooked corner of art history. From the very first shards that shed light on early civilizations, to stories of power, political intrigue and espionage. Famous artists, extraordinary characters, pioneers and rebels from the world of pottery, architecture and design. Full of revelation, insight and practical expertise, The History of Ceramics offers an alternative history to our times.
Episodes
The Zsolnay Legacy and The Return of a Lost Treasure - Part 2
At the height of its success, Zsolnay was one of Europe's most celebrated ceramic manufacturers, renowned for its dazzling iridescent glazes and extraordinary Art Nouveau designs. But two world wars, political upheaval and the rise of communism would threaten everything the family had created.
In the second of two episodes, Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene explore the dramatic decline of Zsoln
The Zsolnay Family and the Golden Age of Hungarian Ceramics
From a struggling pottery factory in nineteenth-century Hungary to one of Europe's most celebrated ceramic manufacturers, the story of Zsolnay is one of extraordinary ambition, artistic innovation and family genius.
In the first of two episodes, Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene explore how the visionary businessman Vilmos Zsolnay transformed a modest factory in the city of Pécs into an interna
Mesoamerica - The Aztecs: Clay, Gods and Sacrifice (Part 3)
At the heart of the Aztec Empire stood one of the most extraordinary cities in the ancient world – Tenochtitlan, built on an island and filled with temples, warriors, craftsmen and gods.
Stephanie Rozene and Paul Greenhalgh explore the ceramics of the Aztecs, or Mexica, from beautifully made redware used for everyday food to extraordinary effigy vessels and monumental terracotta figures created fo
Mesoamerica - Mixtec Puebla: When Pots Told Stories (Part 2)
What if a pot could be read like a book?
In the second part of their journey through Mesoamerica, Stephanie Rozene and Paul Greenhalgh travel to the great ancient city of Cholula – a bustling centre of trade, pilgrimage and cultural exchange – to explore the extraordinary ceramics of the Mixtec-Puebla tradition.
Painted with gods, symbols and intricate bands of imagery, these highly prized vessels
Mesoamerica - The Maya: Gods, Myths and Ceramics (Part 1)
Journey into the extraordinary world of the Classic Maya, where ceramics were far more than objects for everyday use; they were vessels for food, status, storytelling, ritual and belief.
Stephanie Rozene and Paul Greenhalgh explore the golden age of Maya ceramics, discovering how skilled potters created sophisticated hand-built vessels without the potter’s wheel. From humble cooking pots used to p
Peter Voulkos - A Revolution in Clay (Part 2)
In the second of two episodes, Stephanie Rozene and Paul Greenhalgh follow Peter Voulkos through the explosive years that transformed him from master potter into one of the most radical figures in modern ceramics.
From the experimental studios of Otis and Berkeley to his monumental Blackwares, stacks and platters, Voulkos tears, cuts, pounds and rebuilds clay, pushing it far beyond the traditional
Peter Voulkos - The Man Who Broke the Rules (Part 1)
What happens when a master potter decides to break all the rules?
In the first of two episodes, Stephanie Rozene and Paul Greenhalgh explore the life and work of Peter Voulkos, the artist who helped transform American ceramics after the Second World War.
From his Montana childhood and wartime service to his first encounter with clay, Voulkos begins as a brilliantly skilled traditional potter. But
The Ancient Greeks: From Red Figure to the Rise of Rome
The story of Greek ceramics continues with a revolution in pottery. Around 530 BC, Athenian potters began turning the familiar world of black-figure decoration on its head, creating the extraordinary red-figure vessels that would come to define Classical Greek ceramics.
Stephanie Rozene and Paul Greenhalgh explore the potters, workshops and innovations behind this transformation, and discover how
The Ancient Greeks: Pots, Power and the Birth of a Civilisation
Emerging from the turmoil of the Bronze Age collapse, ancient Greece would become one of the most influential cultures in history – and ceramics were at the heart of its story.
Stephanie Rozene and Paul Greenhalgh trace the extraordinary rise of Greek pottery, from the bold patterns of the Geometric period to the great workshops of Athens and Corinth and the exquisite black-figure vessels of the G
The Minoans: Myth, Minotaurs and the Ceramics of Ancient Crete
Nearly 4,000 years ago, the Minoans flourished on the island of Crete, trading across the Mediterranean and creating some of the most extraordinary ceramics of the Bronze Age.
Stephanie Rozene and Paul Greenhalgh explore a world where myth and archaeology collide – from King Minos, the Minotaur and the labyrinth to the discovery of Knossos. Through monumental storage vessels, exquisite Kamares war
Bernard Leach - The Making of A Master - Part 3
How did Bernard Leach’s ideas travel from a small pottery in St Ives to influence generations of potters around the world?
In the final episode of our three-part series, we follow Leach as his influence spreads beyond Britain. We explore his relationship with American potters Warren and Alix MacKenzie, his travels across the United States, and his celebrated 1952 tour with Shōji Hamada and Sōetsu
Bernard Leach - The Making of a Master - Part 2 - St. Ives
How did Bernard Leach turn a small pottery in St Ives into the centre of a new ceramics movement?
In the second episode of our three-part series, we follow Leach as he returns to Britain with Shōji Hamada and establishes the Leach Pottery in St Ives. We explore the challenges of those early years, the development of his distinctive approach to making, and the ideas that would eventually be captur
Bernard Leach - The Making of a Master - Part 1 - Japan
How did an English artist in Japan become one of the most influential figures in modern ceramics?
In the first of our three-part series on Bernard Leach, we explore the extraordinary early years that shaped his life and work. From his return to Japan and his first encounters with pottery to his friendship with Shōji Hamada, we discover how Japanese culture transformed Leach's understanding of wha
Secrets of The Japanese Tea Ceremony
In 16th century Japan, a bowl of tea could get you killed. This episode traces the birth of the Ancient Japanese tea ceremony and the aesthetic of wabi-sabi, or the art of finding beauty in imperfection. Paul and Stephanie tell the story of tea master Sen no Rikyu, whose humble, handmade Raku bowls stood in defiance of warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi's golden excess, in a tale of philosophy, political
Bernard Palissy - Obsession, Faith and Myth
Bernard Palissy was an artist, scientist, inventor and one of the most extraordinary figures in the history of ceramics. Driven by religious faith, a fascination with nature, and an obsession to discover the secret of white enamel, he devoted years to relentless experimentation, sacrificing his fortune, and burning almost everything he owned in pursuit of perfection. In this episode Paul Greenhalg
The Ming Dynasty - When Porcelain Became Power
This week Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene explore the extraordinary ceramics of the Ming Dynasty, the period that established China as the world's greatest producer of porcelain.
From the famous blue-and-white wares of Jingdezhen to magnificent imperial commissions and the global trade that carried Chinese porcelain across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, we uncover how Ming potters achiev
The Tang Dynasty - Treasures from the Tomb
This week Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene explore the remarkable ceramics of the Tang Dynasty, one of China's greatest periods of artistic innovation. We venture down into the depths of their magnificent tombs and discover the wonders of their funerary wares. Ceramics creations that capture life in the Imperial Court from dancers, polo players, concubines, warriors and magnificent horses. The
Lucie Rie & Hans Coper - Clay, Courage and Reinvention - Part 2
This week we continue the story by following the extraordinary journey of Hans Coper, a man who arrived in Britain as a refugee with no experience of pottery, yet went on to become one of the greatest ceramic artists of the modern age.
Forced to flee Nazi Germany as a teenager, Hans Coper rebuilt his life from scratch in wartime Britain. When he began working in Lucie Rie's studio, he discovered n
Lucie Rie & Hans Coper - Clay, Courage and Reinvention - Part 1
This week on The History of Ceramics, we begin the remarkable story of two artists who transformed the course of modern ceramics. Our journey starts with the extraordinary life of Lucie Rie.
Born into the rich cultural world of Vienna, Lucie Rie was already an accomplished ceramic artist when the rise of Nazism forced her to leave everything behind. Arriving in London as a refugee in 1938, she fac
The Terracotta Warriors
In 1974, a group of farmers digging a well in rural China made one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in history: an underground army of thousands of life-sized terracotta warriors, standing silently in battle formation for more than two thousand years.
But why was this extraordinary army created? Who was the powerful ruler it was built to protect? And what does it reveal about the amb
George E. Ohr - The Mad Potter of Biloxi
Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene travel to the American South at the end the 19th C to explore the life and work of George E. Ohr - otherwise known as the Mad Potter of Biloxi. Overlooked for much of his life this eccentric character worked tirelessly creating innovative, wild and exquisitely crafted art pottery. He was a renowned showman using slogans, banners and sales gimmicks to market his
Funk and Nut Art with Clayton Bailey
Stephanie Rozene and curator Garth Johnson pick up the story of Funk Art and look at the life and work of artist Clayton Bailey who would go on to form the breakaway movement called Nut Art. Taking ceramics into a new realm of world making, eccentricity and humour, Bailey would inhabit an alter egos, stage pranks with the press and take the museum world on an unexpected journey.
00:00 Introduction
Robert Arneson - Funk Art
Join Stephanie Rozene and guest Garth Johnson as they travel back to 1967 and the West Coast of America where an exhibition named Funk would showcase ceramics as a provocative art form. Using humour, satire, colour and form these Funk artists critiqued the world around them and changed ceramics forever. No longer utilitarian vessels - this was art that shocked.
Artwork in this episode:
Banded Whit
Hector Guimard - The Father of French Art Nouveau
How Art Nouveau transformed Parisian Architecture. In this episode we travel to France to meet Hector Guimard the father of French Art Nouveau and the sweeping organic forms that came to define one of the most exciting eras in European culture.
We’ll be exploring how ceramic tiles became a key element in the architecture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and we venture underground, down
Josiah Wedgwood - Part 2 - Turning Pottery into Politics
How did Wedgwood combine pottery with politics? Paul Greenhalgh is joined by Sir Tristram Hunt to discuss the life and work of potter and abolitionist Josiah Wedgwood who created one of the most famous ceramic companies in British history.
Ceramics and artwork in this week’s episode include:
Dinner Plate ‘Frog Service’, 1773, Josiah Wedgwood & Sons
Courtesy of V&A Museum
Plate ‘Frog Servic
Josiah Wedgwood - A Giant in the History of Ceramics - Part 1
How did Wedgwood create one of the most famous ceramic companies in British history? And what fueled his obsession with science and experimentation? Join Paul Greenhalgh is joined by Sir Tristram Hunt to discuss 18th century England and the life and work of potter, scientist and abolitionist in part 1 of a 2 part series on Josiah Wedgwood.
Ceramics and artwork in this week’s episode include:
Josia
Sèvres - Power, Porcelain & Prestige
In this episode Paul and Stephanie discuss how Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour, and Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette's passion for porcelain created one of the most famous and revered names in the history of ceramics, Sèvres.
Ceramics and artwork in this week’s episode include:
Tureen (Japanese Kakiemon style), 1725–51, Chantilly Porcelain Manufactory
Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Tureen, 1749–5
Secret Formula - The Race for Porcelain - Part 2
How did an alchemist discover the recipe for porcelain? And why did his discovery ultimately drive him mad? Join Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene as they pick up the story of Europe’s obsession with porcelain and the race to discover its secret formula. Stranger than fiction this is another great story in the history of ceramics.
Ceramics and artwork in this week’s episode include:
King August
White Gold - The Race for Porcelain (Part 1)
How did Europe become obsessed with porcelain? And who would win the race to discover the secret formula for this “white gold?” In this episode Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene travel from Marco Polo’s China to the courts and palaces of Europe, where this mysterious material bewitched all those that encountered it.
Artworks featured in this episode:
King Louis XIV
King William III & Queen Mar
The Ceramic Wars
Why were Korean potters kidnapped and held hostage by Japanese invaders? And how did they transform the history of Japanese ceramics? In this episode Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene explore the complicated relations between Korea and Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries, and show how ceramics became a major factor in the bitter conflict between the two of them during what has become known as
Picasso The Potter
How did Picasso discover pottery? And how did he transform the fortunes of an ancient town in the process? Join Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene to discuss Picasso’s life in the South of France just after the Second World War where he found a new and exciting creative outlet bringing together painting and sculpture and in doing so transformed the history of art.
Ceramics and artwork in this we
Adelaide Alsop Robineau - A Pioneering Potter
Who created the Mona Lisa of American Ceramics? And how was it stolen from under the noses of museum guards? In this episode Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene travel to the American Gilded Age at the end of the 19th C to discuss the life and work of Adelaide Alsop Robineau, the pioneering potter who fought to make her own work her own way, and went on to win the top prize at the prestigious Wor
The First Pot
What was the first piece of pottery that humans ever made? What does it reveal about our earliest ancestors? In this episode Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene travel back to the earliest civilisations to find out how they created the very first ceramic objects and what that meant to the story of mankind.
Ceramics and artwork in this week’s episode include:
Venus of Dolní Věstonice, 29,000—25,00
Introducing The History of Ceramics
The History of Ceramics brings together British art historian & curator Paul Greenhalgh and U.S. maker and academic Stephanie Rozene as they reveal the most compelling and often surprising stories from this often-overlooked corner of art history. Travelling around the world and through time, from the very first shards that shed light on early civilizations, to stories of power, political intrigue
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