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Title: Carolinda Tolstoy Ceramics by Ernst J. Grube ISBN: 1-874044-56-2 Publisher: Art Books Intl Ltd Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $32.00

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (5 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: POETRY IN POTTERY
Comment: For anyone interested in contemporary ceramics or Islamic pottery, this is the book of not just the moment, but of the decade. Of course you can just flick through, admiring the stylish design and stunning photography of ornate, gilded ceramics, the dramatic close-ups of Eastern silks and ornate jewellery, the embellished hands of a latter-day Odalisque, which nevertheless are throwing pottery. On first impression an exotic, Oriental world leaps off the pages. Now, plunge in, read on...

The author of Carolinda Tolstoy Ceramics is Ernst J. Grube, a leading world authority on Islamic art, with a track record as Professor Emeritus of Venice University, President of the East West Foundation, New York, and First Curator of the Islamic Art Department at the Metropolitan Museum, New York. In the gloriously pink and gold inside front cover of the book, he contends that "Countess Carolinda Tolstoy is undoubtedly the major contemporary representative of a considerable 'Orientalist' tradition. Her work has justly been recognised as perpetuating the fascination of the Western world with Safavid art, with an indebtedness to a truly original interpretation of the Ottoman tradition."

Tolstoy herself says, "My influences have been Hispano Moresque, Turkish Iznik and more recently Persian Safavid Esphahan." She adds, "I love the spontaneous aspect of hand-thrown pottery. While working with clay, I am constantly aware of it having a life of its own, which I try to retain by not over-finishing. I like the contrast between simple shapes and rich decoration, for which I employ a faïence technique with lustre." Working on red earthenware with tin glazes, her pottery shimmers ethereally in its lustre; and over its delicate pastel grounds, the swirling surface decoration glows in gold.

As Dr. Sheila Canby, of the British Museum's Department of Oriental Antiquities, points out, "Tolstoy's work demonstrates the internationalism of great art and its ability to 'speak' to people of various cultures and periods without a great deal of verbal explanation. Not only does her choice of imagery relate to Safavid painting, but also her technique is in the tradition of fine Persian pottery, and even the revival of lusterware, which took place in Iran in the 17th century. While Tolstoy's Persian-inspired ceramics must certainly appeal to those familiar with Safavid art, they also are intriguing examples of the twentieth century potter's art. I applaud her skill in uniting traditional Persian imagery and modern ceramic forms and techniques."

In his Introduction to Carolinda Tolstoy Ceramics, Grube places Tolstoy's work in history, illustrating her inspirations, and tracing the traditions of Middle Eastern pottery, as well as her relationship to twentieth century ceramics. He demonstrates how rather than draw on far Eastern sources, as so many of her contemporaries have done, Tolstoy has continued and expanded the Islamic ceramic heritage in a unique way. Other modern luminaries in the field such as Alan Caiger-Smith and Sutton Taylor, have adapted the lustre of Persian pottery, without adopting the designs, preferring abstraction. Tolstoy's floral, rock and wave, and arabesque scrolls relate closely to Ottoman Iznik pottery, her figurative designs to Persian Safavid miniatures. She also borrows decorative elements and concepts from several forms of Islamic applied arts, such as metalwork and textiles. The finialled shape of her salt-kilns recalls the cast brass incense holders of Syria and old Iran. And the insistent, sumptuous gold decoration echoes the gold-stencilled page margins of the illuminated manuscripts of the Mughals. As Grube writes, "It is the use of brilliant gold floral patterns in Carolinda Tolstoy's work that is almost uniquely her own, giving it a brilliance and a sense of movement that has few parallels in contemporary ceramic making."

So who is Countess Carolinda Tolstoy? Though born and brought up in London, she is the descendant of an old Middle Eastern family, Tolstoy being the name of her husband. With her flowing black hair, kohl-rimmed eyes, rivers of jewellery and drifting silk clothes, many of which she paints herself, she looks every inch the Oriental Empress. Yet this diminutive, apparently delicate woman has boundless energy, works non-stop, loading the kiln with her heavy pots, refining her state of the art (very pink) website, and bringing up three children. In addition, she is a consummate entrepreneuse, successfully marketing her pottery worldwide. It's represented in many important public and private collections; and there are frequent exhibitions all over the world. The work is published in books, academic journals and popular magazines, and has been the subject of several television documentaries and many media interviews.

Meanwhile, work is constantly in progress transforming the interior of her home into a fantasy palace of pink, purple and gold, most of whose surfaces Carolinda paints with golden scrolls. "If it stays still long enough, I'll decorate it." Filled with antiques and contemporary art, this highly idiosyncratic home has been featured in House & Garden and other style magazines.

The book, Carolinda Tolstoy Ceramics, celebrates thirty years of professional life. Having studied art in Paris and at various London art schools, Tolstoy joined the Chelsea Pottery for some years and learned traditional ceramic throwing and glazing techniques. While fellow students were immersed in minimalism, Tolstoy was drawn to Eastern art, and in particular to Islamic geometric design, moving on to stylised but more curved and sensual forms of the botanical world, particularly flowers. After a ten-year break bringing up her children, her subject matter turned to people.

Tolstoy has travelled and visited ceramic centres extensively, throughout Russia and Uzbekistan, working and teaching in Greece and Italy, studying in Moorish Spain, North Africa, Iran and Turkey, always armed with a sketching aide memoir. Ideas and inspirations develop spontaneously into ceramic form and into the recipe goes a dash of passion - "I evolve with the pots and they with me... working purely through intuition." To catch impressions she still extracts a little drawing pad from within the folds of a fabulous Shéhérezade robe during the vivid carousel of social and cultural events that characterise her evenings. "I am the pot and the decorated clothes are the glaze."

But look at the pots, as this superbly designed book persuades you to do - in extreme close-up capturing the detail of their beauty and gilded technique, or their freestanding form for their poetry and sensual shapes. For these elaborate confections of clay, water, fire and gold paint exude distilled emotion. "I am the pots and the pots are me - one and the same - I don't make the pots, they make themselves through me - they are a natural extension of myself as I am of them - there is only one way the cycle can stop."

Rating: 5
Summary: stunning
Comment: this is a stunningly beautiful book where the photos do full justice to the fanatastic colours and forms of the Islamic inspired ceramics, truly Carolinda Tolstoy has taken an ancient, and little practised today, art form and continued it with great talent.

Rating: 5
Summary: A Work of Art
Comment: This catalogue is a work of art all by itself. Whether you are an art connoisseur or not, one thing is for certain: you can't help but be taken in by Carolinda Tolstoy's exotic work and marvel at the rich colours and the varied themes employed by the artist for her work - tulips, carnations, lillies, sweeping leaves, tears.

The catalogue also allows for escapism: it shows how dreamy the artist's work is and it speaks of the Orient; at the same time, the catalogue encapsulates Carolinda Tolstoy's hard work over the years and demonstrates how she has been inspired by the past even though her designs are for today's collectors. I highly recommend this catalogue; it is beautifully designed and photographed and it makes an ideal gift for any occasion at any time of the year.