Clarice Cliff (20 January 1899 – 23 October 1972) was an English ceramic artist and designer. Active from 1922 to 1963, Cliff became the head of the Newport Pottery factory creative department.
Cliff's ancestors moved from the Eccleshall area to Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, around 1725. Cliff was born on the terrace of a modest house in Meir Street on 20 January 1899. Her father, Harry Thomas Cliff, worked at an iron foundry in Tunstall. Her mother Ann (née Machin) washed clothes to supplement the family income. They had seven children.
Cliff was sent to a different school from her siblings. After school, she would visit her aunt, who was a hand-painter. She made papier-mâché models at school for a local pottery company.
At age 13, Cliff started working in the pottery industry as a gilder. She added gold lines on pottery of traditional design. Later, she learned freehand painting at another potbank. She also studied art and sculpture at the Burslem School of Art.
In 1916, Cliff relocated to the factory of A.J. Wilkinson in Newport, Burslem, to increase her career opportunities. Most of the young women in the Staffordshire Potteries would continue working in the area of the task they had first mastered in order to raise their income above the rate of 'apprentice wages'. Cliff chose not to follow this traditional path; instead she acquired many skills, such as modeling figurines and vases, gilding, keeping pattern books, and hand-painting ware. Hand-painting included outlining, enameling and banding (drawing radial bands on plates or vessels). In the early 1920s, decorating manager Jack Walker brought Cliff to the attention of one of the factory owners, Arthur Colley Austin Shorter. Shorter nurtured her skills in ceramics and gave her space to explore her own ideas. He was married, but later married Cliff after his wife died (Cliff and Shorter were married in December 1940). Over time, Cliff developed her skills and studied at the Royal College of Art and visited Paris.
In various styles, the first printed 'Bizarre' back stamp was used on Clarice Cliff ware from 1928 to early 1936. Cliff was given a second apprenticeship at the age of 25 (1924). She worked at A.J. Wilkinson's, primarily as a 'modeler' and worked alongside factory designers John Butler and Fred Ridgway. They produced conservative, Victorian-style ware. Eventually, Cliff's wide range of skills was recognized, and in 1927 she was given a studio at the adjoining Newport Pottery, which Arthur Colley Austin Shorter had bought in 1920. Here, Cliff was allowed to decorate some of the old defective glost ware in her freehand patterns. She used on-glaze enamel colours for these, which enabled a brighter palette than underglaze colours.
She covered the imperfections in simple patterns of triangles, in a style that she called 'Bizarre.' The earliest examples had a hand-painted mark, usually in a rust-coloured paint: 'Bizarre by Clarice Cliff," she wrote, and sometimes she added 'Newport Pottery' underneath. To the surprise of the company's senior salesman Ewart Oakes, it was immediately popular when he took a carload to a major stockist. Clarice was joined by young painter, Gladys Scarlett, who helped her with the ware. Soon, a more professional back stamp was made, which showed Cliff's facsimile signature, and proclaimed "Hand Painted Bizarre by Clarice Cliff, Newport Pottery England."
This back stamp led to Bizarre being used as an umbrella name for her entire pattern range, so the factory had to refer to the first pieces with the simple triangles as Original Bizarre.
In March 1927 Shorter sent Cliff to the Royal College of Art in Kensington, for two brief periods of study in March and May. These dates are recorded in the Royal College of Art archive and were also remembered by Gladys Scarlett in 1982, as she was briefly left alone at Newport to paint the new 'Bizarre' ware.
Starting in 1927, Cliff was credited for shapes she designed, such as her Viking Boat flower holder, though her modeling for the factory is recorded in the trade journal only as far back as 1923–24. From 1929 onward, the shapes took on a more 'Modern' influence. They were often angular and geometric, and some got what was to be later termed Art Deco designs. Abstract and cubist patterns appeared on these shapes, such as the 1929 Ravel (seen on Cliff's Conical shape ware), which was an abstract leaf and flower pattern named after the composer. The image shows a conical coffee pot as well as a sugar bowl and cream holder with four triangular feet, another of Cliff's Bizarre shape ideas which proved popular with 1930s customers. Ravel produced between 1929 and at least as late as 1935.
In 1928, Cliff produced a simple, hand painted pattern of Crocus flowers in orange, blue and purple. Each flower was constructed with confident upward strokes and then green leaves were added by holding the piece upside down and painting thin lines amongst the flowers. The Crocus pattern was completely hand-painted, and the vibrant colors led to large sales.
Initially, Cliff had just one young decorator produce Crocus, Ethel Barrow. But by 1930, a separate decorating shop was established underneath the top floor of the building which housed the 'Bizarre' shop, and Ethel trained young painters on how to paint the pattern. Twenty young women painted nothing but Crocus for 5½ days a week for much of the 1930s. Crocus was unusual because it was produced on tableware, tea and coffee ware, and 'fancies' (which included novelty items made primarily as gift ware). The pattern had many colour variations, including Purple Crocus (1932), Blue Crocus (1935), Sungleam Crocus (1935), and Spring Crocus. Crocus continued to be produced after WW2, and the final pieces with Clarice Cliff marks were made in 1963. However, Midwinter bought the factory and continued to paint the pieces to order until as late as 1968.
By 1929, Cliff's decorators had grown to a team of around 70 young painters. Of those, 66 were women (called 'Bizarre girls') and 4 were boys. Many of these workers were traced in the 1980s and 1990s and they totalled over 100. Their names and work for Clarice Cliff were recorded in the centenary book.
The factory produced a series of small color printed leaflets (quite unusual for this time) which could be obtained by post, or from stockists. This promotional device was successful, and one young girl's only task was to put the leaflets in stamped self-addressed envelopes sent to the factory. At this time, many women would buy pottery by mail order picked from advertising magazines. The series of leaflets, each of which covered a range of pieces in a similar style or set of colours, included the patterns Bizarre, Fantasque, Delecia, Appliqué, Inspiration, Crocus & Gayday, but contained other design patterns as well. The original leaflet for the Appliqué patterns featured just two, Lucerne and Lugano, but Cliff's career witnessed 14 Appliqué patterns that had been designed by 1932: Avignon, Windmill, Red Tree, Idyll, Palermo, Blossom, Caravan, Bird of Paradise, Etna, Garden, Eden and Monsoon in addition to the original two.
The Fantasque range evolved between 1928 and 1934 and mainly featured abstracts or landscapes of cottages and trees, as well as some Art Deco inspired patterns. The first Fantasque landscape pattern was Trees and House, which sold well from 1930 until at least 1934. However, it was the slightly later, more sophisticated Autumn pattern issued near the end of 1930 which was more popular. Originally created in red, coral-green and black, from 1930 to 1931 many colourway variations appeared. The rarest is the red colourway, shown on a 13-inch (330 mm) wall plaque. The best selling version at the time was one with trees in blue, green and yellow. All these variations are collectables.
In 1930, Cliff was appointed as art director at Newport Pottery and A. J. Wilkinson, the two adjoining factories that produced her wares. Her work involved spending more time with Colley Shorter, and this gradually developed into an affair, conducted in secrecy. The couple worked closely together on creating awareness of 'Bizarre ware' to catch the attention of buyers in the middle of a major financial depression. Colley Shorter registered Clarice's name and even some of her shapes. It was her ability to design both patterns and the shapes they were to go on that distinguished Cliff above any other designers in the Staffordshire Potteries at this time. Her first modelling in the mid 20s was of stylised figures, people, ducks, the floral embossed Davenport ware of 1925. But in 1929 at the same time as she started the colourful cubist and landscape designs, Cliff's modeling took on a new style. This was influenced by European originals by Désny, Tétard Freres, Josef Hoffmann and others, that she had seen in design journals including 'Mobilier e Décoration'.