Richard Batterham was one of the finest exponents of thrown stoneware pottery in what has come to be called the “Leach tradition”. His death at the age of 85 closed a chapter of a movement led by an elite interwar group including Norah Braden, Michael Cardew, Bernard Leach, Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie and William Staite Murray, who looked to the far east and to British medieval and vernacular pottery for inspiration. Born 1936, Richard Batterham became interested in pottery at a very young age at Bryanston School, where an interest in craft and design was greatly encouraged. He learnt under the guidance of Donald Potter, who was a student of Eric Gill and had also worked with Michael Cardew at Winchcombe. After National Service, Batterham worked for two years under Bernard Leach at the Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall. There he met Atsuya Hamada, son of Shoji Hamada. In 1959 Richard left to set up a pottery in Durweston, outside Blandford, near to Bryanston and Donald Potter. In 1967 Batterham moved into a new pottery workshop in Durweston and built a four-chambered oil and wood-fired kiln. In 1978 with the help of the French potter Thiébaut Chagué, he also built a small salt glaze kiln. The kick wheel that Richard always used to throw his pots was built for him based on Atsuya Hamada’s wheel. His range of shapes and glazes are kept to a minimum - a legacy of his experience of the Leach Pottery. His pots are often regarded as the finest domestic stoneware in the Leach tradition, though he also exemplifies the teaching of Michael Cardew. Richard Batterham's pots are made to enrich life, rather than to adorn it, his work is deeply assured and full of authority without being in any way conceited. Richard Batterham’s work is held in numerous museums, including the Tate and the V&A, as well as in private collections all over the World.
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Green/grey ash glaze, stoneware body. Approximately 17cm wide. This piece is from the Estate of Richard Batterham
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