Sardar Gurcharan Singh (Indian 1896-1995),

拍品描述

Sardar Gurcharan Singh (Indian 1896-1995), High footed bowl with grooves and pale glaze, signed below foot, circa 1963 Provenance: Property from the private collection of John Acton (1932-2017) Sardar Gurcharan Singh was an important Indian modernist potter who was deeply influenced by the pottery of Japan. New Delhi was still taking shape when the young Gurcharan Singh reluctantly made his way there from his home in Gujranwala (now in Pakistan's Punjab), to work in Ram Singh Kabli's brick kiln in 1919. As Ram Singh Kabli's apprentice, Gurcharan worked for a year in every aspect of pottery--throwing, moulding, casting and firing. Ram Singh then decided to send his young protege to Japan to learn about commercial ceramics at The Higher Technological School in Tokyo. For studio pottery in India, it was a propitious moment. In Japan, Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, Kenkichi Tomimoto, Kanjiro Kawai and Soetsu Yanagi, part of a seminal group of artists, potters, poets and thinkers, were beginning to express one of the most potent currents that has shaped the studio potter of today. Gurcharan Singh had gone to Japan to study industrial ceramics; he returned with the nascent Indian studio pottery movement securely lodged in his heart. He aspired to popularize the ancient but neglected art of pottery in India. Although this would involve considerable self-sacrifice he was determined to lead by setting an example. On invitation from the Punjab government in 1938, he set up a pottery training institute in Shahdara near Lahore, to train potters in commercial ceramics. He set up his own kiln in Delhi in 1952. In 1991 he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. In the same year he formed the Delhi Blue Pottery Trust, to carry forward his vision of promoting ceramics throughout the country. In 1995, at the age of 99, Sardar Gurcharan Singh passed away peacefully at Andretta. He had just finished glazing some pots. His life was the subject of a documentary called "The Lotus and the Swan" Every once in a while I am in tune with clay, and I hear music. It's like poetry. Those are the moments that pottery is truly beautiful for me Gurcharan Singh (1899-1995)

图片