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2013.18
Their Finest Hour (2013.18)
Catalogue Record
Collection
Maker
Stephen Dixon
Title
Their Finest Hour
Made in
Manchester
Date
2004
Description
Lidded ceramic vessel with coloured slips and various transfers referencing Classical and Renaissance figures, fields of crosses, and anti-war protests. The lid has an appendix of a 'fallen warrior' referencing Michelangelo's 'Dying Gaul'.
Materials and techniques
Slab-built and hand-modelled in T-material clay. Coloured slips under an earthenware lead glaze, fired to 1120C. In-glaze photocopy transfer prints, on-glaze screen-printed enamel transfer prints, open stock transfers and gold lustre.
Dimensions
length: 34cm
width: 31cm
height: 66cm
Object number
2013.18
Category
References
Featured in Ceramics: Art and Perception TECHNICAL. Issue 102. See related document.
Credit
Purchase of Their Finest Hour (2013) supported by donations to mark Joanna Foster’s contribution as Chair of the Crafts Council.
Related documents
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The UK Crafts Council Collection, article by Paul Bailey, courtesy of Ceramics: Art and Perception TECHNICAL
The UK Crafts Council Collection, article by Paul Bailey, courtesy of Ceramics: Art and Perception TECHNICAL
Maker's statement
The piece was made in 2004, following the Iraq war, the ironic title plays on Churchill's famous Battle of Britain speech, which I paraphrased (in anger at the Labour govt. comparing the Iraq war of 2003 to WW2 in the subsequent UK election campaign).
As to the imagery, it's full of references to the war and conflict. The fallen warrior on the lid references Classical and Renaissance statuary (Michelangelo's Dying Gaul etc). The printed head is classical too, Helen of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ships, surrounded by a grid alluding to a field of crosses. The image (in brown) above is taken from one of Leonardo's studies for the Battle of Anghiari. The large printed letters spelling 'RAW' on the side are blown up and collaged from a newspaper clipping of the banner 'No War' of an elderly anti-Iraq-war protester.
The shape of the vessel is derived from the forms of oil drums and petrol cans, thereby incorporating the central narrative of the work into its form and construction.
As to the imagery, it's full of references to the war and conflict. The fallen warrior on the lid references Classical and Renaissance statuary (Michelangelo's Dying Gaul etc). The printed head is classical too, Helen of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ships, surrounded by a grid alluding to a field of crosses. The image (in brown) above is taken from one of Leonardo's studies for the Battle of Anghiari. The large printed letters spelling 'RAW' on the side are blown up and collaged from a newspaper clipping of the banner 'No War' of an elderly anti-Iraq-war protester.
The shape of the vessel is derived from the forms of oil drums and petrol cans, thereby incorporating the central narrative of the work into its form and construction.