Beyond East and West: Memoirs, Portraits and Essays

by Bernard Leach

Art, Pottery, Biography

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Bernard Howell Leach, CH, CBE (5 January 1887 – 6 May 1979), was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery".

Reviews

[Persephone Abbott]

The best part, for me, was when Beano Bouverie showed up (described in the book by Leach as an aristocrate with a horsey laugh) and her observations on the scene in St. Ives were presented as an insert view. Her writing was much more lively than that of Leach. Leach, obsessed with pottery, describes pots and also good pots. He had an extraordinary life and a rather tame literary vision which was, in my view, a pity as I am not much interested in pots and pottery but very keen to read on the period of history. Speaking of clay, the combination of the search for a religion and good pots, was in some ways fascinating material.