Designer
|
George Pravda
|
Maker
|
George Pravda
|
Marks
|
Hand painted with various faux Aboriginal designs incised through brown glaze to interior of bowl. Striped design incised to top of tab handle.
|
Description
|
Shallow square bowl with rounded corners tapering inward to flat base.
|
Condition
|
Very Good
|
Number
| |
Production Date
|
Between 1949 & 1954
|
Width
|
100mm
|
Depth
|
35mm
|
Length (with handle)
|
125mm
|
Weight
|
155gm
|
Volume
|
230ml
|
Acquisition
|
E-Bay
|
Rameking Reference Number
|
PRA 001-004
|
This time, it was by misreading
a signature. Thankfully, some keen eyed
person on the Internet was able to put me straight. These ramekins were made by a post war immigrant to Australia by
the name of Georges J Pravda.
Professionally he was known as George Pravda, an actor of some
renown. But that is not appropriate for
me to pursue here.
George was
born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on the 19th of June 1916. Czechoslovakia was then still part of the
Austro- Hungarian Empire. He began his
acting career there at the Prague Realistic Theatre under the name Jiří
Pravda. He was fluent in six languages. In 1946 he met Hana Alexandrova, an
Auschwitz survivor. He helped her to
deal with the horror of the loss of her husband and her family. Romance blossomed and they married in
1948. They remained a devoted couple
until his death.
At the end of
the Second World War, he and Hana obtained false identity papers that allowed
them and their son Alexander to escape to Paris where they tried unsuccessfully
to obtain residency. On the 24th
of June 1949 they arrived in Melbourne aboard the “Surriento” a migrant
passenger liner where he continued acting in their own “Tana” company and also
set up a small pottery in Caulfield, a suburb of Melbourne that operated for
seven years. He met Dame Sybil
Thorndyke on her visit to Melbourne in 1954 when she saw Hana’s production of
“Of Mice and Men.” Persuading them to
go to London, she wrote a reference for them and he left for London with his
family where he lived for the rest of his life.
This letter
of introduction to renowned actor Sir John Gielgud helped to establish
themselves in the London theatrical scene.
They moved to Kensington and Hana became a Director, working at the
“Leatherhead Repertory Company.” She
also continued acting, appearing in many 1960s favourites, such as one of my
favourites “Danger Man”, “Catweazle”, Dad’s Army” and “Z Cars.”
He appeared
in numerous British films and Television series including Thunderball and
Hopscotch. He also made several
appearances in the perennial Doctor Who.
He usually played various Eastern European types, including spies and scientists.
Pravda produced mainly slipwares decorated mainly with faux Aboriginal motifs, like these ramekins. Slipware is a decorative technique using slip, a liquid mixture of fine clay and water. The slip can be coloured with oxides or coloured clays and applied to the vessel by dipping or painting, or trailed on like icing on a cake. This is what has been done to these ramekins and the design incised through the slip
Cultural appropriation is the term we use now. Aboriginal people are very particular about designs, their jurisdiction and use in their works, but in the fifties, our potters were not. These fake aboriginal designs were very popular with homemakers of the time and for about fifteen years they appeared everywhere. This caused offence to the Aboriginal people who at the time did not have voice in national affairs. Sometimes an Aboriginal artist must serve a long “apprenticeship” before they can even begin to paint. Copyright was something they knew little of and protection of a design was unheard of and difficult to establish. Now, Aboriginal people are concerned with the mass marketing of tourist kitsch by their own people.
George died in London on the 30th of April or the 1st of May 1985.
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