Clarice Cliff Feature Articles

Here’s yet another Clarice Cliff and Paris mystery which begs more questions and answers……… We all know the story that when being interviewed for a national newspaper Clarice Cliff ‘let it slip’ that she had been to Paris to visit the 1925 L’Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industrial Modernes - the exhibition which was dedicated to the display of modern Decorative Arts.  It was a hugely successful event with some 16 million people attending.  The exhibition featured thousands of designs of decorative items in the ‘moderne’ style from all over Europe and even further afield; no doubt, an educational and romantic excuse for some private time away alone with her lover, boss and pottery factory owner, Colley Shorter.

Because of Clarice’s ‘flights of fancy’ as they were called by some of the factory workers and seeking confirmation of how ‘moderne’ the Europeans were about the design of their pottery and other consumer goods, she had wanted to see these new innovative designs first hand, and not just pottery items!  To have had so many tumultuous ideas flying around in her head it must have been an absolutely inspirational time for her.  Attending this exhibition and seeing all around her must surely have given her confidence to start her first design venture of launching Bizarre ware and confirmed that her ideas on a designer level would be successful with the buying public.  At this time the art pottery design element in Britain was extremely traditional (apart from Truda Carter pieces from Poole Pottery) and quite uninspiring in terms of concept as opposed to their continental counterparts.

Research so far has not confirmed that she ever sold her distinctive Bizarre, Fantasque, Latona, Inspiration or Applique ranges to any retail outlets in France, which considered itself the ‘art’ capital of Europe.  However, in recent times through an Ebay.com website advertisement it came to my attention that Clarice Cliff did sell one range from the Bizarre ware ‘umbrella’ to the French, and it was well known quality wholesaler/retailer Rouard of Paris based at 34 Avenue de l’Opera, who sold her wares!

Rouard was a top quality china and pottery chain of shops which had branches in Paris, Monza, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens and Rotterdam.  This company was the brainchild of Georges Rouard (1874-1929) and it was renowned for the quality of the products they sold whilst also working alongside and encouraging several new French ceramics designers.

However, what is the most surprising of all is that it wasn’t her familiar stimulating geometrics and abstracts shapes and patterns, or her ‘fantasy’ landscapes which made this top quality retailer and wholesaler choose a Clarice Cliff range.  Nor was it a range within the Bizarre umbrella which excites and makes it ‘highly collectable’ worldwide today.  In fact, it was a much more low-key design which Rouard selected to sell; none other than her CORNCOB range, which most of you might well feel is er……perhaps somewhat under-stated and not reflective of Art Deco at all!  Many of the Corncob pieces I have seen are backstamped with the usual “Handpainted Bizarre by Clarice Cliff” mark whilst others have the simple “Clarice Cliff” mark or indeed the "Royal Staffordshire Ceramics by Clarice Cliff Made In England mark", shown below..  

As you can see from the photographs below, the ‘look’ of the Corncob range was hardly colourful; the only coloured part of the pottery was the fruit-like knopf on the teapot!  There was also a single orange and yellow simplistic flower with green leaves on the jug handles, and from other photographs sometimes the teapots had their spouts and handles painted brown with a pink and yellow knopf; perhaps this is how Clarice evolved the pattern to give it a more colourful look. The only decorative aspect of Corncob was the similarity in texture to a ‘corn on the cob’ - perhaps a newly acquired taste by Colley Shorter on one of his many trips to America?

In commercial terms it was not surprising that Rouard chose to sell this range as they always advertised an extensive range of quality WHITE  tableware.  Rouard was a wholesaler and a retailer very much like H.B. Ltd (Hardware Bristol Limited) who supplied Clarice’s Bizarre and Fantasque ranges etc. to retailers throughout the West Country in the UK as well as directly to the public in terms of volume and retail outlets, but of much more distinctive quality.  In short, much more formal ware, so perhaps that is why they purchased and re-sold the more demure ‘Corncob’ range.  

The time-line on when Clarice Cliff’s Corncob range appeared for sale in Paris is circa the mid to late ‘thirties.  Meanwhile, if any of you discover any more information about the Clarice Cliff/Rouard connection, I’d be pleased to hear from you.