Gordon Forsyth

{{Short description|Scottish ceramic designer, fine artist and art education innovator}}

Gordon Mitchell Forsyth (1879–1952) was a Scottish ceramic designer and fine artist and art education innovator.

Biography

Born in Fraserburgh, he attended the Gray's School of Art, in Aberdeen and the Royal College of Art. Moving in 1903 to Stoke-on-Trent, he became art director of the tileworks Minton Hollins & Co, where he began a career which "spanned over forty years and left an indelible mark on the ceramic industry of Staffordshire.".Anne Eatwell, Artists as Educators, The Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 1850 to the present, Number 13 (1989) In 1906 he moved to take the same position at Pilkington's Tile & Pottery Company near Manchester. He returned to Pilkington's after service in the First World War. However, in 1920 he became Superintendent of Art Instruction in Stoke-on-Trent, a role which involved responsibility for several art schools.[https://archive.today/20120918203719/http://www.webmozaic.com/grays/designer-forsyth.htm Gordon Forsyth]

Forsyth was the tutor of a number of notable students at the Burslem School of Art including Susie Cooper,[http://www.collecting20thcentury.com/articles/susiecoop.htm Andrew Casey, Elegance with Utility: The work of Susie Cooper (1902-1995)] Glyn Colledge, Clarice Cliff, Charlotte Rhead, Arthur Berry, and Mabel Leigh.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/sep/19/guardianobituaries|title=Glyn Colledge|last=Hopwood|first=Gordon|date=18 September 2000|work=The Guardian|accessdate=28 June 2013}} At that time, Forsyth was described as a "pottery designer, educator and writer...and one of the main spokespersons on industrial pottery design."Jerry Palmer & Mo Dodson, Design and Aesthetics: a Reader, London: Routledge, 1995, p.210 And the pivotal role he played in British ceramic design has inspired some to call him "the magus of the mid-twentieth century pottery industry."S. Beddoe, Potters and Paintresses: Women Designers in the Pottery Industry 1870–1955, Jnl Design History (1990) 3 (2-3): 197-198

Stained glass

Forsyth is best known for his work in ceramics, particularly lustreware. However, he did work in other media, notably stained glass: he designed stained glass windows for St. Joseph's Roman Catholic church in Burslem in the late 1920s.{{Cite web |url=http://www.carmeldennison.co.uk/GFwindows.htm |title=Gordon Forsyth's stained glass windows at St. Joseph's Church, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent |access-date=21 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911192651/http://www.carmeldennison.co.uk/GFwindows.htm |archive-date=11 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}

Forsyth's daughter Moira (1905–91), who also worked on the decoration of the church, had a successful career as a glass designer.[http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/Father-daughter-left-legacy-Mother-Town/article-562065-detail/article.html Father and daughter left legacy to Mother Town, The Sentinel, 20 December 2008][http://www.sussexparishchurches.org/content/view/330/40/ Sussex parish churches, re Moira & Gordon Forsyth] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709175330/http://www.sussexparishchurches.org/content/view/330/40 |date=9 July 2013 }}

Published works

Gordon Mitchell Forsyth, Joseph William Mellor & H. J. Plant, Introduction to Sympsium on Art, Stoke-on-Trent: Webberley, 1921
Gordon Mitchell Forsyth, Art in the Pottery Industry, no date
Gordon Mitchell Forsyth, The Art and Craft of the Potter, London: Chapman & Hall, 1934
Gordon Mitchell Forsyth, M. P. Bisson, F. Jefferson Graham, W. Hartley, Pottery, Clay Modelling, and Plaster Casting, Sir I. Pitman & Sons Ltd. (in two volumes), 1935
Gordon Mitchell Forsyth, 20th Century Ceramics: an International Survey of the Best Work Produced by Modern Craftsmen, Artists and Manufacturers, The Studio Ltd, 1936

External links

[https://archive.today/20121224172244/http://www.stokemuseums.org.uk/collections/browse_collections/ceramics/20th_ceramics/gordon_forsyth/index.html?sid=92ad56330b25ea4fbf975f485d199310 Stoke-on-Trent Museums: Gordon Forsyth]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110722061446/http://www.search.exploringthepotteries.org.uk/engine/theme/default.asp?theme=597&text=0 Examples of Gordon Forsyth's works at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery]
[https://collections.vam.ac.uk/name/forsyth-gordon-mitchell/35558/ Examples of Gordon Forsyth's works at the Victoria & Albert Museum]