School of Art

School of Art Collections

Home

Contact Details

School of Art
Aberystwyth University
Buarth Mawr
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 1NG

Tel: +44 (0)1970 622460

Fax: +44 (0)1970 622461

Email: artschool@aber.ac.uk

Display artist/maker:

Elizabeth Fritsch

Born: 1940, UK, Wales

Ceramicist. Since the 1970s Elizabeth Fritsch has been one of the leading figures in British ceramics. She makes handbuilt vessel forms with strong architectonic qualities, which she prefers to show in subtly arranged groups designed to highlight the geometric shapes and decoration. She studied harp and piano at the Royal Academy of Music (1958-1964) but eventually took up ceramics working under Hans Coper at the Royal College of Art (1968-1971). She was one of a group of outstanding women ceramicists who emerged from the RCA in that period. Her ceramic vessels are carefully coil-built stoneware smoothed and refined into sharply profiled shapes. They are decorated with dry matt slips, in colours unusual for ceramics; the early work uses pale colours, then for a number of years she used stronger blues and green and more recently she has turned to monochrome forms. Although not a prolific artist she has had a number of significant one-person shows over the years and in 1996 was a finalist for the Jerwood Prize for Ceramics. Her work is represented in major collections in Britain and abroad and she is one of the most highly valued contemporary ceramic artists