Ceramic Faceted Vessel with Striped Glaze by John Ward

A stoneware vessel with banded stripe glaze made by British studio potter John Ward (1938-2023) circa last quarter of 20th century. The vessel takes an interesting multi-faceted form with a large opening and stands on a small, tapered base. In contrast with the elegant and well-balanced form, the glaze decoration features oblique bands of white and celadon that appears rotating along the body, a visual nod to the op art movement. The surface is marked with a fine and intentionally irregular texture, a signature style of the artist. The work is modern and minimal in nature, yet it calls to mind a strong sense of inspiration from antiquity. The base is branded with the artist's seal and initial "JW".
John Ward’s ceramic artwork is found in the permanent collections of many leading art museums including the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Biography (courtesy of Oxford Ceramic Gallery):
"The leading hand-builder John Ward was born in 1938 and trained at Camberwell College of Arts in the 1960s. He is one of a number of significant modern potters to have concentrated on the pared down individual vessel form, most particularly the bowl, as a touchstone for exploration. His generally simple work has been augmented by more complex structures, the shapes cut and altered, perhaps with abstract, geometric decoration and cut-away rims that give some of his pieces an architectural quality. In addition to urban surfaces, his work evokes honed natural forms, the kind of bonier, elemental landscape he has lived in since he moved close to the Welsh coast in 1979. His best pots speak eloquently of the limitless language of the bowl and globular jar, their sculptural and metaphorical resonances."