ANNE DANGAR (1885-1951)
Rarely seen in Australia and inspired by the French Cubist artist Albert Gleizes, Anne Dangar's ceramic works were created in France during the 1930s and 1940s.
Anne Dangar was an Australian artist born in 1887. A close friend of Grace Crowley and a teacher at the Julian Ashton School, Dangar made a life changing decision in 1930 when she moved to Moly- Sabata (the artistic centre started by Gleizes in 1927 to encourage and promote artists who shared a likeminded vision) in France. Here Dangar embarked on a new life of where she immersed herself in pottery making.
The lifestyle was hard with Dangar sometimes walking or riding 15kms to Bert's pottery in Roussillan. She chose to use a traditional kiln over and electric kiln which often caused her a great deal of anxiety. She explained her reason for this in 1948:
"Perhaps I am wrong using this traditional method. In our kiln, we can't expect pieces without retouches, without failing firing. Wind has a tremendous effect. With an electric kiln, it is so easy just to push a button and then go to sleep and then satisfy a curator with perfect vases"
Anne Dangar's efforts in France helped to reinvigorate pottery as an artistic medium and her Cubist designs were highly regarded.
Dangar never returned to Australia and by the end of her life several major French institutions had acquired examples of her work. In 2001 the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra held an exhibition of her ceramics titled "Anne Dangar at Moly-Sabata: Tradition and Innovation.