Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels

Elizabeth Fritsch is a key figure in the group of women artists who graduated from the Royal College of Art in the 1960s and became known as the ‘New Ceramicists’. Fritsch pioneered a virtuosic approach to studio pottery, combining bold, sculptural shapes with vivid geometric patterns. Before she ventured into ceramics, Fritsch trained as a pianist and harpist: she once stated that ‘music has become the landscape in which I work’ and in the 1970s and ’80s made a series of ‘jazz pots’ – several of which are on show here – whose expressive forms aimed to channel the improvisatory nature of jazz. More than 100 works from the 1970s to 2013 are on show in this retrospective at the Hepworth, many of which come from Fritsch’s own collection and are rarely exhibited (8 March–spring 2026).

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary
Find out more from the Hepworth’s website

Green Horn Vase, Collision of Particles (2008), Elizabeth Fritsch. Artist’s collection. Photo: Sylvain Deleu; courtesy Adrian Sassoon, London; © the artist