design across time - Powerhouse Museum

+ 09 powerline spring 05
William Kerr
epergne
About 24 large silver
presentation centrepieces
were made in Australia in the
19th century, only about half of
which have survived. This
piece, an epergne or table
centrepiece, was made in the
workshop of leading Sydney
silversmith William Kerr in the
late 1800s. Born in Northern
Ireland, Kerr came to the
colony of NSW with his family
as a child in 1841.
Standing 72 centimetres high,
this tour de force of Australian
silversmithing was made to
celebrate the success of the
first Australian cricket team to
tour Britain. It depicts a cricket
Hanssen Pigott
‘still life’
Gwyn Hanssen Pigott (b 1935)
is one of Australia’s most well
known and respected ceramic
artists, with an established
reputation both in Australia
and overseas. Inspired first by
the work of Australian potter
Ivan McMeekin in the 1950s,
she went on to work with
Bernard Leach and Michael
Cardew in England in the ’60s,
and was also influenced by
modernists such as Lucie Rie
(all of whom are represented
in the Inspired! exhibition).
Later, attracted by the
freshness and vigour of
traditional woodfired French
stonewares, she set up a
match taking place under a
large Australian native tree
fern, with flannel flowers,
bottle brush, goannas and
snakes on the ground. The
use of native decorative motifs
in Australian 19th century
sporting trophies is rare as
sport was firmly rooted in
British culture, and designs
mostly emulated English
models. Although designed as
a trophy, it was never actually
presented. Instead it is
thought to have stood as a
display piece in the window of
Kerr's George Street shop in
Sydney. It was donated to the
Museum by the Kerr family
when the shop closed in 1938.
Eva Czernis-Ryl, Curator,
Decorative Arts and Design
EPERGNE OF SILVER, EMU EGGS, GLASS AND WOOD, MADE BY WILLIAM KERR,
SYDNEY, 1879. 72 X 40 CM. GIFT OF W T KERR, 1938. PHOTO BY PENELOPE CLAY.
pottery in rural France, before
returning to Australia in 1973.
In the early 1970s she saw the
work of the ‘still life’ painter
Giorgio Morandi, and wrote: ‘I
love his searching, obsessive,
describing of the common
objects that were his subject
and measure.'
This group is characteristic of
the work Hanssen Piggot has
been making for many years.
Arranging finely made
domestic forms into groups
she calls ‘still lives’ or,
sometimes, 'families', she
wants them to be considered
in a way that ‘might raise a
question, lengthen a glance’.
Grace Cochrane, Senior
Curator, Australian Decorative
Arts and Design
‘STILL LIFE WITH YELLOW BOWLS’, WHEELTHROWN AND SLIPCAST IN LIMOGES
PORCELAIN AND SOUTHERN ICE PORCELAIN, MADE BY GWYN HANSSEN PIGOTT,
2002. PURCHASED 2002. PHOTO BY MARINCO KOJDANOVSKI.
GLASS AND GILT VASE MADE BY LEGRAS & CIE, FRANCE, ABOUT 1905, 65 X 18 CM.
PURCHASED WITH FUNDS PROVIDED BY THE AUSTRALIAN DECORATIVE AND FINE
ARTS SOCIETY, KURING-GAI, 2004. PHOTO BY JEAN-FRANCOIS LANZARONE.
Legras & Cie vase
This spectacular blown-glass
vase was made in about 1905
by the Paris glassworks
Legras & Cie, which
specialised in acid-etched
and enamelled cameo glass.
During the first decade of the
1900s Legras & Cie became a
major exponent of the École
de Nancy led by Emile Gallé,
France’s leading maker of
decorative glass in the
fashionable Art Nouveau style.
The firm produced a wide
variety of commercial artglass,
both cameo and
painted in enamels, but also
made some large high-quality
pieces for international
exhibitions. Only a few of
these more elaborate
examples have survived. The
large size, unusual design,
complex technique (two layers
of transparent green glass
with aventurine spangles
trapped between) and lavish
decoration of this vase
indicate that it may have been
an exhibition piece.
While many of Legras designs
of this period used naturalistic
motifs, some, like this vase,
display more stylised
decoration and sumptuous
Rococo rocailles (scrolls). The
decoration on this piece is
based on mistletoe, a motif
perfectly suited to the
curvilinear Art Nouveau style,
but the overall design reveals
the influence of the 18th
century Rococo style.
Eva Czernis-Ryl, Curator,
Decorative Arts and Design
Vionnet gown
Madeleine Vionnet (1876–1975)
was best known for her use of
the bias cut, so beautifully
illustrated in this early 1930s
evening dress. By cutting her
fabric at 45° to the grain,
Vionnet created a seductive
and daring look that
contrasted beautifully with the
corseted and stiffened
silhouettes popular for much
of the 19th century. Vionnet’s
designs were dramatic and
ingeniously cut, using fabric
with the greatest respect for
its particular qualities.
The bodice of this cream silk
hopsack weave gown is in
three sections, gathered and
held by shoulder straps
inserted into channels which
cross at the back. The straps,
jewelled with aquamarine and
clear faceted glass stones set
into metal mounts, are a
typical Vionnet innovation,
combining jewellery and fabric
in one design.
Vionnet’s expertise evolved
from many years of
apprenticeship, observation
and practice both in making
and selling. At 12 years of age
she started her first job and
later worked for Paris
couturiers Callot Soeurs and
Doucet before she set up her
own business in 1912.
Lindie Ward, Assistant
Curator, International
Decorative Arts and Design
Inspired! Design across time
opens on 6 October.
SILK EVENING DRESS MADE BY
MADELEINE VIONNET, PARIS, FRANCE
ABOUT 1930. PURCHASED 1996.
PHOTO BY JEAN FRANCOIS
LANZARONE.