Ruth Duckworth (1919 - 2009) redefined what it meant to work with clay in the 20th century, transforming the medium from a craft tradition into a language for modernist sculpture. Best known for her minimalist, organic forms in stoneware and porcelain, Duckworth developed a style marked by fluidity and restraint. Her signature works feature ultra-smooth, unglazed white porcelain surfaces, often punctuated with subtle stains from ceramic oxides. Though she began her sculptural journey in more traditional materials like wood, bronze, and lead, it was in clay—especially porcelain—that Duckworth found her most expressive voice.Born in Germany Duckworth fled Nazi persecution at age 16, relocating to England where she took on a wide range of jobs—from carving gravestones to making molds for Lucie Rie’s ceramic button business. It was in Rie’s studio that she met pivotal figures like Hans Coper, Jacob Epstein, and Henry Moore, who helped shape her early artistic direction. She began her formal ceramics education at Hammersmith School of Art but soon moved to the more progressive Central School of Arts and Crafts, where she was mentored by Dora Billington and immersed herself in experimental porcelain techniques. By the early 1960s, Duckworth had established her first studio, had her first solo show at Henry Rothschild’s Primavera Gallery, and began to gain recognition for her bold and original approach to sculptural ceramics.In 1966, Duckworth moved to the United States to teach at the University of Chicago, where her career flourished with large-scale commissions that married art and architecture. Her monumental mural Earth, Water and Sky (1967–1968), created for the University’s Geophysical Sciences Building, marked her transition into architectural ceramics. This was followed by Clouds Over Lake Michigan (1976), originally installed in Chicago’s Dresdner Bank and later acquired by the University of Chicago in 2023. Duckworth’s legacy endures not only through her influential work and teaching but also through her unwavering commitment to elevating clay as a sculptural medium.
British-American, 1919-2009