![Design for a Slab Bottle Vase](https://d3d00swyhr67nd.cloudfront.net/w800h800/collection/CW/PHG/CW_PHG_PEZPH_1997_3-1.jpg)
Artist and potter, born in Hong Kong, studied art at the Slade School of Fine Art, 1903, and the London School of Art. Practised etching, then went to Japan – to which he was to return on a number of occasions through his life – where he studied pottery. Returned to England where he founded and directed The Leach Pottery, at St Ives, from 1920. He exhibited widely throughout the world and was an influential teacher, conducting several lecture tours in America, sponsored by the Contemporary Art Society. His pots are in many galleries and museums. Made Companion of Honour, 1973. Wrote several books, including A Potter’s Book, 1940, A Potter in Japan, 1960, and his autobiography Beyond East and West, published posthumously in 1985. Crafts Council held a Leach exhibition in 1998; Penlee House, Penzance, another in 2002; Bernard Leach: Concept and Form, at James Hockey Gallery, Surrey Institute of Art & Design, Farnham, 2002–3; lithographs at Curwen Gallery, 2004; and Come to the Edge, pots and tiles at Tate St Ives, 2005.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)