Focussing on The Johnston Collection’s Felix Summerly’s Minton ceramic statue (1860) as a point of departure, this lecture highlights the importance of British ceramics in the design reform movement of the second half of the nineteenth century. Critical of the overwrought and excessive ornamentation spurred on by mechanised, industrial technology, some British designers sought to rediscover pre-industrial techniques and adapted these to contemporary designs. Inspired by naturalism, exoticism, and the East, the decorative designs ensured strong aesthetic market appeal.
Dr Andrew Montana researches, writes, and lectures on the interrelationship between the fine, decorative, and architectural arts, specialising in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His many publications include the books The Art Movement in Australia: Design, Taste and Society 1875-1900; Loudon Sainthill’s Theatre of Art & Life and Keith Haring’s Australia 1984. He contributed chapters in Daniel Cottier, Designer, Decorator, Dealer and Collecting for the Nation – The Australiana Fund.
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