British Art Ceramics: By Design and Example with Dr Andrew Montana

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.  

Your ticket includes tea or Market Lane coffee served before the presentation, and time to browse our exclusive range of books, gifts, and homewares at TJC Emporium.

This event is presented on-site at The Johnston Collection. Please see your ticket for details. NOTE: Tickets for this event do not include access to our exhibition-house, Fairhall. Guided tours of the current exhibition can be booked separately.

This program is generously supported by The Sir Wilfred and C H (Roger) Brookes Charitable Trust.

Image: Centrepiece, Minton & Co. (English, estab. 1793) after: Christopher Dresser (b.1834, d.1904), Stoke-on-Trent, England, circa 1860-1870, bone china, enamel, 328 x 350, The Johnston Collection Foundation Collection, 1989, A0464.