Amanda Dunsmore: Josiah Wedgwood and the Neoclassical Ideal

Josiah Wedgwood was one of the greatest innovators of the eighteenth century. A self-taught man of prodigious energy and vision, Wedgwood has been acclaimed as a champion of English Neoclassical taste as much as a pioneer potter, industrialist, founder of the abolitionist movement and marketeer. He named his factory ‘Etruria’ after the Italian region where many ancient Greek vases were believed to have been made and the factory’s Neoclassical program was explicit from the outset. During the eighteenth century Wedgwood’s success burgeoned through his development of creamware, transfer printed wares, black basalt wares and his most famous innovation, jasper ware, perfected after a total of more than 5,000 recorded experiments. This lecture will look at the taste for Neoclassicism in Britain that arose in the 1760s and Josiah Wedgwood’s critical role in developing and promoting it.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Amanda Dunsmore is Senior Curator, International Decorative Arts and Antiquities, at the National Gallery of Victoria. She has a background in Egyptology and worked for several years as a ceramic specialist in Egypt. Her research interests include eighteenth-century English architecture and interiors, in particular the work of James Wyatt, and early 20th century design and the rise of modernism. She has curated numerous exhibitions including Bugatti: Carlo, Rembrandt, Ettore, Jean (2009), Japonisme: Japan and the Birth of Modern Art (2018) and Spectrum: An Exploration of Colour (2021-22).

Ticket includes one beverage on arrival. No entry to Wedgwood: Master Potter to the Universe

Limited parking available on-site.

Wheelchair accessible.

Banner image: Wedgwood (Britain established 1759); John Flaxman Jr (Britain 1755–1826), modeller, Hercules in the garden of Hesperides 1785–1800, white on blue jasper. National Gallery of Victoria. Purchased 1877