page_title: Clarice Cliff
section_title: Revival of interest in her work
hierarchical_section_title: Clarice Cliff / Revival of interest in her work
caption_attribution_description: English: The original CCCC re-united 17 of Cliff's paintresses together in 1986
context_page_description: Clarice Cliff was an English ceramic artist active from 1922 to 1963. She became a ceramic artist, becoming the head of the factory artistic department.
context_section_description: The exhibition and the first book published privately in 1976 'Clarice Cliff' by Peter Wentworth-Sheilds and Kay Johnson (L'Odeon publishing) marked the start of a major revival of interest in Cliff's work, which has continued to be sought after by Art Deco ceramic collectors ever since.
  In 1982 the ORIGINAL Clarice Cliff Collectors Club was formed and promoted her and her work throughout the world. The club founder had appealed in the Staffordshire Evening Sentinel for anyone who worked with Cliff to contact him and was delighted when he found 28 former workers. Still calling themselves the 'Bizarre girls' even in their mid-1970s and early 1980s Cliff's former painters were delighted in the interest in the pottery they had hand painted 50 years earlier. They attended the annual meetings of the club, and were to be involved in many television and radio programmes about Cliff, and a mass of books that appeared. Many of their memories were recorded in the CCCC Reviews from 1982 to 2004. The club also held meetings and exhibitions in Britain, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
  The Stoke-on-Trent meetings visited the old painting shop of Bizarre ware by the canal at Newport, Burslem, from 1987 to 1997, ironically the only building left standing on the site. Sadly it was demolished by Wedgwood in 1997, and the land sold for housing.
  in 1985 a series of pieces were produced under the title The Bizarre Collection, with the mark for the "Royal Staffordshire Pottery by Clarice Cliff", and marketed by the Midwinter pottery. These pieces were all hand painted, unlike some of the later production Wedgwood, and faithfully respected the original designs and production methods with the exception of the crocus conical sifter. The production actually took place on the same premises as the original production line of the Newport pottery.  
  The three principal designs produced were Honolulu on a 12-inch Mei Ping vase, Summerhouse on a 13-inch wall plate and a striking version of Umbrellas and Rain on a conical bowl. These pieces can be identified with a tiny impressed "85" for the year of manufacture. There was also a selection of six conical sugar sifters, again hand-painted, with the exception of the aforementioned Crocus which was lithographed. Whilst the purists still scoff at these pieces some 30 years later they are actually a very accurate representation of the originals they were copied from and in themselves are now becoming sought after not least because they allow collectors to acquire excellent pieces and a more affordable price.
  A chain of mergers finally led to Wedgwood owning the Clarice Cliff name, and from 1992 to 2002 they too produced a range of reproductions of the highly sought 1930s pieces. These were made to a high quality, and were produced in small numbers for sale to collectors who could not find (or perhaps could not afford) the most striking original pieces.
  The first pieces produced included a ginger jar in House and Bridge, a large shape 14 vase in Solitude, a Stamford shape teapot milk and sugar in Pink Roof Cottage, a Conical bowl in Tennis, and a wall plaque in Lightning.  From 1996 to 2002 pieces were made for CCCC members and these were also sold at major Wedgwood rooms. The hand painted pieces ceased production in 2002 but ware with printed (not hand painted) patterns were made in larger quantities by Wedgwood during and after this time.  
  These reproductions should not be confused with forgeries (of which a number are found), the Wedgwood ones are clearly marked as 'Wedgwood Clarice Cliff'. An original Cliff painter Alice Andrews, then in her 80s, was employed to appear at launches of the ware in stores throughout Britain.
caption: Cliff's original painters re-united by the CCCC founder Leonard Griffin who is pictured with them in 1986
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