Lucie Rie (Modern Women Artists #9)

From early promise as a ceramic artist in Europe, Rie found herself on the verge of obscurity in Britain and spent her wartime ‘cabbage-days’ creating buttons to make ends meet.

But by the 1950s, her intentionally flawed and experimental glazed designs had become popular British domestic wares. Her signature sgraffito technique and later ‘flared-lip’ vases are now among her most recognisable work.

Today, as Rie’s pots smash international auction records, interest in this émigré artist – who fled Nazi-occupied Europe to become an icon of ceramic art – continues to grow.