# Phoebe Stabler

Phoebe Gertrude Stabler (née McLeish, 1879–1955) was an English artist working across many mediums including metalwork, pottery, enamel and wood in the late nineteenth and early-mid twentieth centuries. "Although Stabler is best known for her pottery figures, during the 1920s and 1930s she was also well known for her stone carvings and was an important contributor to the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, 1924."

## Biography

Stabler was born in Birmingham, but grew up in Liverpool, where both her parents originated. Stabler was one of five or more children, with her two sisters also following creative careers as jewellery designers. Stabler first studied at the Liverpool School of Art in the 1890s, where two of her sisters also attended. During this time she was awarded the City Scholarship and Travelling Scholarship. She went on to study at the Royal College of Art in London.

## Artwork

In 1906, she married Harold Stabler. From 1912, Stabler and her husband, had a kiln in Hammersmith, London, where they worked collaboratively as well as Stabler producing garden ornaments. She created richly glazed pottery figures which were produced by both the Royal Worcester and Royal Doulton and Poole Pottery. For Poole Pottery, she collaborated with her husband to design the ceramics for The Cenotaph in Durban. Stabler also designed works for Ashtead Potters, a pottery that employed ex-servicemen after the First World War.
Stabler created the World's Land-Speed Trophy that was awarded to Sir Henry Segrave.
In 2018, The Light of Knowledge (1927) ceramic tile panel was put on display at the Rugby Art Gallery & Museum following a fundraising effort to have it restored.

## Selected exhibitions

Stabler's work was exhibited widely, including at the following institutes,
* Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts
* Society of Women Artists
* Royal Academy of Arts
* New Society of Artists
* Walker Art Gallery
* Women's International Art Club
* Sir John Cass Arts and Crafts Society
* Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society
* British Institute of Industrial Art

## Works held in Collections

| Title | Year | Medium | Gallery no. | Gallery | Location |
| Buster Boy | 1916 | stoneware | C487 | Aberystwyth University Ceramics Collection | Aberystwyth, Wales |
| Buster Boy | 1921–1923 | stoneware | C488 | Aberystwyth University Ceramics Collection | Aberystwyth, Wales |
| Buster Girl | 1922 | stoneware | C487 | Aberystwyth University Ceramics Collection | Aberystwyth, Wales |
| Lavender Woman | ca.1913 | stoneware | C.13-1978 | Victoria and Albert Museum | London, England |
| Memory | - | Portland stone | L.F9.1927.0.0 | Leicester Arts and Museums Service | Leicester, England |
| Pickaback (maquette) | 1908 | plaster | AH02479/83 | Abbot Hall Art Gallery | Kendal, England |
| Sleep | 1922 | unknown | C484 | Aberystwyth University Ceramics Collection | Aberystwyth, Wales |
| Sleep | 1922 | stoneware | C485 | Aberystwyth University Ceramics Collection | Aberystwyth, Wales |
| The Bath Towel | 1916 | stoneware | C482 | Aberystwyth University Ceramics Collection | Aberystwyth, Wales |
| The Bath Towel | 1914 | stoneware | C483 | Aberystwyth University Ceramics Collection | Aberystwyth, Wales |
| The Bull | 1922–1923 | stoneware | C507 | Aberystwyth University Ceramics Collection | Aberystwyth, Wales |
| The Lavender Woman | 1915 | stoneware | C480 | Aberystwyth University Ceramics Collection | Aberystwyth, Wales |
| The Lavender Woman | 1925 | stoneware | C481 | Aberystwyth University Ceramics Collection | Aberystwyth, Wales |
| The Lavender Woman | 1922–1925 | stoneware | C486 | Aberystwyth University Ceramics Collection | Aberystwyth, Wales |
| The Light of Knowledge | 1927 | ceramic | - | Rugby Art Gallery and Museum | Rugby, England |
| The Young Mother | 1927 or before | concrete | L.F10.1927.0.0 | New Walk Museum & Art Gallery | Leicester, England |