Hildyard, Robin

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HILDYARD, Robin

PERSONAL: Male.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—c/o National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London SW7 2RL, England.

CAREER: Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England, curator, 1968—.

WRITINGS:

European Ceramics, V & A Publications (London, England), 1999, University of Pennsylvania Press (Philadelphia, PA), 2000.

Also author of exhibition catalog for Victoria and Albert Museum (with Adrian Ostwald and R. G. Hughes) Browne Muggs, English Browne Stoneware, 1670-1900. Contributed to German Stoneware, 1200-1900, written by David Gaimster, British Museum Press, 1997.

SIDELIGHTS: As long-time curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum's Ceramics and Glass Department, Robin Hildyard is well acquainted with the subject matter in his writings and presentations, which center around the museum's collections.

Hildyard, who specializes in English pottery, German stoneware, and early English glass at the museum, is obviously qualified to introduce the reader to the subject of European Ceramics. In this book he deals in a comprehensive fashion with ceramics from the time of the Middle Ages (c. 1500) up to the late twentieth century, illuminating key styles, techniques, and developments without neglecting the social context of the work. After introducing the history of pottery from earthenware to stoneware, Hildyard discusses the impact of industrialization, the Empire period, the Great Exhibition period, and the twentieth-century phenomenon of separation of artist and manufacturer. A Choice reviewer highly recommended the book: "For anyone who is curious or inquisitive about the changing iconographic meanings of ceramic objects and/or searches for the simple and perfect match between form, material, and function, this extraordinary book will be a delight!"

In his careful and thorough treatment of the topic, Hildyard shows that, as he states in the introduction, "All ceramics, as mirrors of their makers, their users and their age, have something to offer."