Sam Haile (1909-!948) was a highly original artist, who like his teacher at the RCA, William Staite Murray, saw ceramics essentially as an aspect of sculpture and painting. His big bowls, platters and jars, with figurative and abstract imagery successfully combined the two and three dimensional, their expressive verve extended into his work on canvas and paper. Known as a leading English Surrealist, he was also a fine landscape painter in watercolour, producing many quite expressionist drawings of the mountains of Switzerland for example, as well as lyrical images of England.
In the USA where he taught ceramics for a short period, his sculptural approach to clay helped lay the groundwork for artists such as Peter Voulkos and Rudy Autio. His brushed and trailed decoration had exceptional life and energy, qualities he brought to all his work. Haile married Marianne de Trey in 1938, and in 1947 they established a pottery in Devon. The following year Haile was killed in a car accident in Dorset.
David Whiting |
