This is the first full-scale biographical and critical study of Ann Stokes (b.1922), the widow of the art critic Adrian Stokes and a highly unusual potter who creates bold, uninhibited works.

Largely self-taught, Stokes took up pottery in the 1960s and immediately attracted interest within the art world – collectors included William Coldstream, Richard Wollheim, John Golding and David Sylvester.

The appeal of Stokes' work is plain: her fascination with line and movement is seen in her expressive animals (crocodiles, birds and fish are among her ceramic fauna). Her sculptural pieces possess a physicality that reflects Stokes' love of nature and her continuing desire to capture the natural grace of her subjects, while her extraordinary output of plates shows her sensitivity as a painter and colourist. Stokes' work draws on many sources, from Mediterranean vernacular pottery to the work of Alfred Wallis to archaic Cretan ceramics.

Beautifully illustrated and with three major essays, Ann Stokes: Artists' Potter is a must for art historians, collectors, decorative arts specialists and cultural historians alike.

Contents: Foreword, Grey Gowrie; Introduction, Tanya Harrod; Potter as Painter and Sculptor, Hilary Spurling; Ann Stokes: Art and life, Richard Morphet; Smooth and Rough: The Ceramics in Context, Tanya Harrod; Chronology, Exhibitions and Public Collections; Bibliography; Acknowledgements; Index.

About the Editor: Tanya Harrod is an independent design historian who writes widely on the crafts. Her major study, The Crafts in Britain in the Twentieth Century was published in 1999. She writes regularly for Crafts, The Burlington Magazine and the Times Literary Supplement.

Grey Gowrie’s Third Day: New and Selected Poems was published in 2008. He has been Minister for the Arts, Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, Provost of the Royal College of Art and Chairman of the Arts Council of England.

Richard Morphet is the former Keeper of the Modern Collection, the Tate Gallery.

Hilary Spurling is a biographer, collector and critic. The second volume of her biography of Henri Matisse, Matisse the Master: The Conquest of Colour 1909-1954 (2005), won the 2005 Whitbread Book of the Year award.

Reviews: '...a beautifully illustrated book...' East Anglian Daily Times

'Distinguished contributors turn her artistic development into an enthralling story ... Illustrations of her exuberant ceramic objects are splendid'. Hamstead and Highgate Express July 2009

'a compelling and affectionate portrait ... scholarly and delightful'. Crafts 2009

'... handsomely produced book ...''Ceramic Review

' ... well illustrated, informative and touching'. World of Interiors

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