Keith Murray (ceramic artist)
Keith Day Pearce Murray was a New-Zealand-born British architect and industrial designer, known for ceramic, silver and glass designs for Wedgwood, Mappin & Webb and Stevens & Williams in the 1930s and 1940s. He is considered to be one of the most influential designers of the Art Deco / Modern age.
Keith Murray at work
Manurewa No. 1 at Glenora Park, Papakura, 1911; Murray is right of the tail group
Wedgwood cigarette box, c. 1935
Wedgwood vase
Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapidly successful and was soon one of the largest manufacturers of Staffordshire pottery, "a firm that has done more to spread the knowledge and enhance the reputation of British ceramic art than any other manufacturer", exporting across Europe as far as Russia, and to the Americas. It was especially successful at producing fine earthenware and stoneware that were accepted as equivalent in quality to porcelain but were considerably cheaper.
Typical "Wedgwood blue" jasperware (stoneware) plate with white sprigged reliefs.
Wedgwood pieces (left to right): c. 1930, c. 1950, 1885
A transfer printed creamware Wedgwood tea and coffee service. c. 1775, Victoria & Albert Museum, in the "Liverpool Birds" pattern. Fashionable but relatively cheap wares like these were the backbone of Wedgwood's early success.
Four creamware plates, transfer printed with stories from Aesop's Fables, the other decoration hand-painted. 1770s.
