Like many readers of Ceramic Review, I watched and enjoyed the recent BBC TV series Ceramics: A Fragile History. All three programmes in the series were absorbing and full of fascinating detail. However, I was left with a sense of unease, bordering on disappointment, with the third part of the series, which dealt with the development of studio pottery in Britain. The period between the late nineteenth century and the Second World War was well covered, describing the rise of Bernard Leach and his followers, such as Michael Cardew. The programme claimed that Bernard Leach single-handedly developed studio pottery, but what was not properly explained was how he became so influential. How did so many studio potters come to set up in the post-war period, especially during the 1960s and 1970s? They could not possibly all have emerged from apprenticeships at a few pioneering potteries such as Leach's. There had to have been other, substantial means of spreading Leach's ideals and popularising studio pottery. Educational institutions, new private galleries, and craft organisations all played a key role but were not mentioned in the programme.
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