Nicholas Vergette (1923–1974) was a British potter and sculptor,John Gardner (1978). Nicholas Vergette, 1923-1974. Lord John Press. who produced ceramic murals and figurative works for architectural settings during the 1950s and 1960s.Sandra Alfoldy "Crafting Identity: The Development of Professional Fine Craft in Canada", published by McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal and Kingston, London, Ithaka, 1969, p.37. He was Professor of Art at the Southern Illinois University, School of Art and Design from 1960 to 1974.Vergette Gallery at cola.siu.edu.
Biography Vergette was born in Lincolnshire in 1923. He studied pottery under Dora Billington at the Central School of Art and Design in London.
In Britain during the 1950s Vergette, Alan Caiger-Smith, Margaret Hine and others including the Rye Pottery made tin-glazed pottery, going against the trend in studio pottery towards stoneware.Caiger-Smith, Alan, Lustre Pottery: Technique, Tradition and Innovation in Islam and the Western World(Faber and Faber, 1985) They all were given the name of "Piccassettes" by the studio potter and art teacher Bernard Leach.
In the early 1950s Newland, Hine and Vergette "formed something of a coterie", sharing a studio in Bayswater and exhibitions at the Crafts Centre and the Studio Club in Piccadilly.Harrod, 'The Forgotten '50s', p.32; Peter Dormer, William Newland: It's All There in Front of You, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, 1996, pp.38 and 39; Darron Dean, 'William Newland, Margaret Hine and Nicholas Vergette, 1949-54: The Emergence of the Individual Studio Potter in Post-War Britain', Studio Pottery, no.12, December/January 1994-95, pp.31-38, p.3 The three of them also had participated in a holiday in Spain in 1949 where they "went to Malaga and studied throwing and tin-glaze techniques".See video recording of William Newland interviewed by Mike Hughes at Prestwood, Buckinghamshire, 29 September 1994, NEVAC CD 708 (1 of 4), 7min.40sec.-7min.47 sec.
Vergette emigrated to the United States in 1957. From 1960 to 1974 he was Professor of Art at the School of Art and Design of the Southern Illinois University (SIU).
Vergette died of cancer in 1974, two months after completing "Here", a large sculpture piece on the SIU campus.
Reception Dora Billington in her 1953 article "The Younger English Potters" in The Studio noted:
Darren Dean in a 1994 article entitled William Newland, Margaret Hine and Nicholas Vergette, 1949-1954 concluded:
Donhauser (1978) recalled, that "Dirk Hubers and Nicolas Vergette are two examples of potters who, through their distinctive form language, added to the diversity of style and attitudes which comprised the American studio-pottery scene during the 1950s."Paul S. Donhauser (1978), History of American Ceramics: The Studio Potter. p, 125
References
External links
Vergette Gallery at cola.siu.edu.