Lawson Ernest Rudge, Leverett, raku pottery sculpture, c1985

Size:  37 cm long, 14.5 cm to top of its ears.

Condition: Very good condition, free from damage or restoration.  The raku process results in deliberate cracks in the glaze.

This lovely little piece was maybe conceived by Lawson as a baby hare to join a family.  It has the humour and whimsical quality common to all of his work.

Lawson Ernest Rudge (1936-2026) was a talented and idiosyncratic artist and this large figure of a hare is an excellent example of his work.  Having trained at the Royal College of Art in the swinging sixties (at the same time as David Hockney), Lawson moved to Devon, where he moved into ceramics, making some very unusual and striking pieces in cast slipware.  His development of animal raku figures was also an innovation at the time.  He is probably best known for his flat cow figures, but for hares also, sometimes wearing boxing gloves!  Three of Lawson's children followed him into making raku animals, and their work is sometimes confused with his, but their styles are all different.  Lawson was not a great publicist and made his living quietly selling through galleries, but he was also a highly respected and loved teacher of ceramics.

Lawson seldom signed his work and this hare is not signed.