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As a significant work by Hans Coper (1920-1981) of monumental proportions comes to auction, we take a closer look at the ceramic artist who is arguably the most important and respected potter of the twentieth century, with works achieving ever increasing sums at auction.
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© Jane Coper
Hans Coper was born in Germany in 1920, into a prosperous middle-class family. However, as a family with a Jewish father living in Germany after the rise of Hitler there were several upheavals (including his father’s suicide) and when the country was finally considered too dangerous, Hans arrived in London in 1939. Having arrived with no family and almost no possessions, his early time in England was miserable, and the lonely 19 year old attempted to take his own life. After the war ended, having worked various jobs, Hans was advised to visit Lucie Rie seeking employment. Rie had taken on other refugees, and initially put Hans to work making ceramic buttons. He was sent to learn how to throw clay with Heber Matthews at Woolwich Polytechnic, and after quickly picking up the skill he began making pots at Lucie Rie’s Albion Mews studios.
By 1948, Rie and Coper began making domestic stoneware together, whilst Coper experimented with his own pots which over his lifetime were increasingly inspired by the ancient forms he found in museums. During the 1950s and onwards he worked with a new white clay called ‘T’ material, applying dark manganese and white slips, repeating a process of sanding, scratching and re-staining until he was satisfied with the final surface texture which resembled excavated vessels.
In 1959, Hans moved to Digswell House, a large Georgian house in Hertfordshire organised as living and working space for artists (including Peter Collingwood who became a friend of Coper’s). He stayed there for almost five years during which he received various commissions including acoustic bricks, tiles, the two wall murals for Swinton School and the Powell Duffryn Group – currently being exhibited at The Arc in Winchester - and in 1962 was invited to create a set of candlesticks for Coventry Cathedral.
In 1963, Coper moved back to London into a house in Princedale Road with Jane Gate and her two sons, and a year later moved his studio to Hammersmith. His work at Princedale Road ‘included massive pots which had to be fired in pieces and assembled afterwards’[i]. During the years in London, Hans created most of the hour-glass shaped pots and many of those with discs. He was exhibiting and also teaching at both the Camberwell School of Arts and the Royal College of Art, where he is credited with being the primary influence to a whole generation of potters.
Hans and Jane Coper moved to Frome in 1967 where he resided until his death in 1981. His work was shown at multiple exhibitions throughout his life, including at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (with Lucie Rie) in 1967, the Victoria & Albert Museum (with Peter Collingwood) in 1969 and the Museum fur Kunst and Gewerbe, Hamburg (with Lucie Rie) in 1972.
Whilst Coper was alive, his pots were sold for tens of pounds. In the 1980s, secondary market prices steadily increased from four figure sums to five figures. Just over ten years ago, the record was achieved when one of Coper’s murals sold for over £180,000. Then in March 2018, a cycladic vessel which had been purchased in the 1970s for £250 achieved a staggering £381,000 at auction – according to the Guardian at the time this was “ the highest price ever paid for a piece of modern and contemporary studio pottery.” In October 2022, a new world record was set for the artist when a pot sold at auction for £655,500 inc buyers premium (against an estimate of £80,000-120,000).
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Monumental vessel of composite form, possibly unique, early 1964, Estimate £6,000 - £10,000
Chiswick Auctions is proud to offer a vessel made by Hans Coper, which was commissioned in 1964 directly from the artist and is discussed in diary entries kept by the current vendor’s grandmother. New to the market, it is one of the tallest works ever made by Coper other than the Coventry Cathedral candlesticks, and of a form previously undocumented. Sourced by the specialists at Chiswick, and removed from the garden where it was found amongst the weeds of a flowerbed, sadly the pot has suffered some trauma and is crudely repaired with a large section absent. It is being sold as two separate parts and requires careful attention to restore it to its former glory.
The vessel, which is being offered as part of Chiswick’s Design sale taking place 9th April, can be seen in its original form in the black and white photograph taken by Jane Coper.
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© Jane Coper
[i] Tony Birks, Hans Coper, Stenlake Publishing, Paperback 2013, pp.54