Description
16.5" Polia Pillin(1909-1992) Mid century Modern California Art Pottery Bowl<br>late 1940's-50's. Exceptional early heavily potted Pillin piece just discovered<br>estate fresh. Bought from Polia for $75, I'm thinking the 101 on the tag<br>indicates it was likely her 101st piece made. This is a really big bowl with<br>typical crazing and 3 of the tiniest glaze flakes on the outside rim. No cracks,<br>chips, or restorations.<br><br>Polish-born Polia Pillin (1909-1992) and her husband William established their<br>ceramic studio, The Pillin Art Pottery Company, in their Los Angeles, CA garage<br>in 1948. Her husband shaped and glazed the pots that became canvases that Polia<br>used to paint fanciful scenes of people and animals in the mid-century style.<br>Thousands of pieces were produced and Polia became one of the most highly<br>regarded of contemporary studio potters today.<br><br>The clay used for Pillin pottery was typically red-brick in color. William<br>experimented with different glazes and produced some pieces without Polia’s<br>artwork. However, it was Polia’s artistic designs that garnered her<br>international recognition. Polia was inspired by the Cubism movement and by the<br>works of Pablo Picasso whom she greatly admired. Her style is often referred to<br>as “Byzantine”. Polia’s favorite subjects were women, horses, birds, fish and<br>other animals painted over colorfully rich glazes. The overall pallet had an<br>organic, jewel-toned quality.<br><br>Each piece of Pillin pottery was hand-thrown, glazed, painted and hence, unique.<br>Because Pillin worked from her garage (and in her kitchen when she lived in<br>Chicago), she did not have access to expert tradesmen, chemists or specialized<br>equipment that could mass produce her work. For that reason, most Pillin pottery<br>is highly crazed. Rare pieces with little to no crazing command higher values.<br><br>Most pieces of Pillin pottery were produced beginning in 1948 and marked on the<br>bottom with Polia’s signature “Pillin” in either thick or thin black ink. Rare<br>pieces produced in her Chicago kitchen in 1946 and 1947 are incised “46” or<br>“47”. Some very early pieces are marked “W+P” above the Pillin signature to<br>indicate William throwing the pieces and Polia decorating them. Thicker thrown<br>pieces tend to indicate earlier works.
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