Wedgwood circus bowl decorated by Thérèse Lessore thumbnail 1
Wedgwood circus bowl decorated by Thérèse Lessore thumbnail 2
Not on display

Wedgwood circus bowl decorated by Thérèse Lessore

Bowl
1923 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This Wedgwood bowl was decorated by Thérèse Lessore who became the third wife of the artist Walter Sickert in 1926. Despite her French name, she was born in Brighton and studied art at London's Slade School. She painted landscapes, interiors, and circus scenes, as well as producing designs for textiles. She was part of the Bloomsbury set as was her first husband, the painter Bernard Adeney, and Walter Sickert who wrote of her art in 1914: 'Her pictures are seemingly not painted from models pretending to do certain things. By some strange alchemy of genius, the essentials of their being and movement are torn from them, and presented in ordered and rhythmical arrangement of the highest technical brevity and beauty.'

Thérèse Lessore's interest in painting for pottery design was not surprising since her grandfather was Emile Lessore, a free-hand decorator for Wedgwood Potteries, and her father was the artist Jules Lessore, who also painted pottery. This design was probably produced in the 1930s when circus was enjoying great popularity due to Bertram Mills' grand annual circuses at Olympia.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleWedgwood circus bowl decorated by Thérèse Lessore (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Glazed earthenwre
Brief description
Glazed bowl decorated with circus images by Thérèse Lessore (1884-1945). Wedgwood, 1923.
Physical description
Bowl decorated in underglaze blue, the interior decorated with a patterned border below the rim and an image of an equestrian standing on horseback carrying a hoop in his right hand, the horse cantering round the ring, the audience behind. The outside of the bowl is decorated with images of three trapeze artists, one about to catch another artist after a leap, two of them swinging from trapezes.
Dimensions
  • Across rim diameter: 21.1cm
  • Depth: 9.4cm
  • Of base diameter: 11.4cm
  • Depth: 9.4cm
Marks and inscriptions
TL monogram on base in blue (Monogram of Thérèse Lessore)
Credit line
Antony Hippisley Coxe Collection
Object history
Exhibited in the V&A circus display, Gallery 104A, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the foundation of circus, April 2018 to February 2019

Summary
This Wedgwood bowl was decorated by Thérèse Lessore who became the third wife of the artist Walter Sickert in 1926. Despite her French name, she was born in Brighton and studied art at London's Slade School. She painted landscapes, interiors, and circus scenes, as well as producing designs for textiles. She was part of the Bloomsbury set as was her first husband, the painter Bernard Adeney, and Walter Sickert who wrote of her art in 1914: 'Her pictures are seemingly not painted from models pretending to do certain things. By some strange alchemy of genius, the essentials of their being and movement are torn from them, and presented in ordered and rhythmical arrangement of the highest technical brevity and beauty.'

Thérèse Lessore's interest in painting for pottery design was not surprising since her grandfather was Emile Lessore, a free-hand decorator for Wedgwood Potteries, and her father was the artist Jules Lessore, who also painted pottery. This design was probably produced in the 1930s when circus was enjoying great popularity due to Bertram Mills' grand annual circuses at Olympia.
Associated object
S.22-1992 (Object)
Collection
Accession number
S.21-1992

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Record createdJune 14, 2006
Record URL
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