Object of the Month: January 2025

Gordon Baldwin is a pioneer of British Studio Pottery who developed an artistic style that drove clay towards a new modernism that aligned it with sculpture. Despite this, he continued to create thrown, functional pots to fund the family’s Christmas celebrations. He said “when in great need of money, I make tableware and become very involved in it and enjoy the work to the exclusion of most other things”.

This tall bowl demonstrates Baldwin’s proficient throwing skills and easy manipulation of clay. The mixing of different coloured clays, a technique known as Agateware, is unique to the artist’s functional works of this time (1970s). Making use of the large kilns at Eton College where he taught, Baldwin would fire his bowls, plates and pots alongside the students’ works.

The Object of the Month can be seen in person throughout January at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery.