Author(s): Jane Vial & Steve Austin

NZ Art and Artists

Elizabeth Lissaman: New Zealand's Pioneer Studio Potter traces the life and works of New Zealand's pioneering woman studio potter.

It is fully illustrated with over 100 images, especially photographed, of Lissaman's pottery selected from private and public collections. Illustrations also include images of her designs and historical family photographs.

The biography is meticulously researched and written by Jane Vial, and Steve Austin contributes an essay placing her work in the wider international contexts of art deco and decorative modernism, as well as the history of women's art and social standing in early 20th century New Zealand. 

Lissaman designed, threw, decorated, fired and sold her first significant collection of pots in 1927 and potted continuously for almost 70 years until 1990, spanning New Zealand's studio pottery movements. 

Elizabeth Lissaman was a commercially successful and significant studio potter and teacher from the 1920s to the 1980s who adapted to the times, creating fine examples of indigenous New Zealand Art Deco `art pottery', as well as Mid-Century Modern pottery.