The Last Sane Man: Michael Cardew: Modern Pots, Colonialism, and the Counterculture

Who was it that said you can list a mile of facts about a person and still miss the essential?There is a qualitative difference between what was written by Michael Cardew and what was written about him...like the difference between a wolf and a dog, or between a Spanish mustang and a cowpony. Same species, different spirit. The questions that Michael asked were different...dream-driven. What price do we pay, in the end, if we keep looking for quicker and easier ways to do things? What sort of potential and meaning does clay and pottery really have, and how does inanimate material express human feeling? What shape do you want to give your life, using your free will together with the inevitable limits & losses that come? Do you treat your clay with the respect a good friend deserves and listen to what it has to say? It's interesting that the final paragraph in the book is a challenge. Who now will ask these questions?So, for what it is: Aside from it's wonderful title, this biography is a rich and intricate tapestry, a valueable, accurate account of a remarkable person: pioneer, philosopher, musician, writer, artist and teacher. A combination of opposites: quintessential Englishman and global person, broadly knowledgeable and keenly focused, logical and intuitive, tortured and confident, austere and exuberant.The impossible situation at Achimota College during World War II is described in excruciating detail, and it's instructive to see how Michael eventually became an expert on the chemistry of clay and glazes to overcome similar difficulties in the future.The subtext here involves a beautiful and humane vision, sacrifice and the currents of destiny.

Michael Cardew led a remarkable lifein a time long gone, He explored a newparadigm in his art and life

Michael Cardew, (1901-1983), was, and still is, one of the most highly regarded potters of the 20th century.Tanya Harrod's detailed journey through his life and work is an epic sweep across the social, political, and art history of the 20th century. Cardew is particularly well know for his work in West Africa, in Ghana and Nigeria, both British colonies at that time. He set up three pottery workshops, over a period of twenty years and produced some of his most memorable work there. Harrod navigates this vast and complicated historical terrain with formidable political agility. She applies forensic critical scrutiny to the colonial context of working, personal and romantic relationships as well as to the wider social contexts.We get to know Cardew as a scholar, a potter, a husband, a father, a lover, a friend, and as a teacher and mentor. We learn of his character through his own writings and those of many others, including interviews with people in West Africa who remember him. Harrod brings an admirably cool head combined with considerable compassion to the complicated tangle of both homosexual and heterosexual relationships, enabling a fully rounded picture of all concerned to emerge.Cardew eschewed industrial processes, insisting on developing a pottery `from the ground up,' starting with making and firing the kiln bricks, digging up local clay and grinding rocks for glaze materials. Undaunted, Harrod deftly picks her way through the details of craft pottery - the firing temperatures, the nature and feel of the clay, the machinery and general grub and grit as well as the science and aesthetics of the business.This is painstaking historical research combined with fluent, inspired storytelling. It's a glorious book, one that will live near you and will be read and reread, argued over and discussed. Buy it new - second hand copies will be rarer than hen's teeth!

The level of research that must have been required to write a book like this is huge, the detail is fantastic - indeed almost too much in places - but the story of a man that is so well known, in the world of pottery, is well worth the effort of the reading that is required. The production values of the book are very high and it is a valued addition to my library of books on pottery.

What I wanted and on time

Totally fascinating - I had no real knowledge about Michael Cardew before buying this book so it was a lovely surprise to read something so absorbing

Bought this for my husband and he loved it. He said it is well written and informative, and in addition very revealing to the character of Michael Cardew. Quite an eye opener in fact. Now I have to read it.