This unique group of works brought together by collectors George and Cornelia Wingfield Digby, reflects on the history and ethos of the Leach Pottery. It includes Leach's pots as well as pieces by some of the major potters who worked alongside him. While all share an interest in high-fired stoneware and porcelain, they each developed individual styles related to, but subtly different from, each other.
For Bernard Leach, the qualities of a pot, using the language of the body, were seen as having neck, shoulder, belly and foot creating harmony and concord, using terms such as grace, vigour, growth, thrust, breadth and stability. The wholeness and sense of unity advocated by Leach was an inspiration for generations of potters, many of whom, like him, sought 'vitality', a quality that transcends conventional analysis in capturing a sense of energy and life. In 2005 the Wingfield-Digby Collection was accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance Tax and allocated to Tate St Ives.
