Aboriginal motif kitsch

Aboriginal motif salt & pepper shaker sets, and small jug
made in Australia c.1950s

While none of these items has a maker’s mark, the salt and pepper shakers at the back are possibly by Terra Ceramics, and the round shakers to the left are possibly Florenz Pottery. The small jug is probably Studio Anna. All these potteries were making tourist and souvenir pottery by the 1950s, and these appropriated [and westernised] indigenous motifs were hugely popular. Post war arts and crafts saw a rise in the popularity of Australiana – replacing traditional English motifs with ‘Australian’ themes; invariably Aboriginal motif works were black, tan and white.

This group works well as a set, or could form the basis of a larger collection. The items on their own are very kitsch…but somehow when grouped the kitschness is subverted into a subtler aesthetic.

This set is for sale: $AU125

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Australia in the #40s and #50s

Australian Souvenirware,
made in Czechoslovakia, England, Australia 1940-50s

A selection of hand-coloured, photographic transfer prints of various Australian cities and landmarks made in the 40s and 50s. What a great wall feature they’d make!

Featured herein are beaches, streets, bridge and bridge approaches and traffic bridges, parks, clocks, landmarks, harbours, town halls, parliament houses and rivers [and I quote] :

• Harbour Beach, Manly
• Prince Street, Grafton
• Belmont, Lake Macquarie
• Bridge Approach, Shoalhaven River from Showground, Nowra
• Bridge, Shoalhaven River, Nowra
• Traffic Bridge, Macksville
• Machattie Park, Bathurst
• Dr Evershed Memorial Clock, Bega NSW
• Bottle Rock, Coonabarabran
• Ulladulla Harbour, NSW
• Town Hall, Rockhampton QLD
• Perth, WA
• Parliament House, Canberra
• Murray River, Corowa.

Makers are all noted on the backstamps: Victoria, IBC, Royal Grafton Bone China, Royal Stafford Bone China, Westminster China [the last, weirdly from Australia.]

All fifteen plates are in great vintage condition and provide a snapshot of important landmarks in Australia, as judged by tourists in the 40s and 50s. Or – as I mentioned – massed together they would make a fantastic wall feature.

The souvenirware plates are for sale: $AU120

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Aboriginal motif kitsch

Aboriginal motif salt & pepper shaker sets, and small jug
made in Australia c.1950s

While none of these items has a maker’s mark, the salt and pepper shakers at the back are possibly by Terra Ceramics, and the round shakers to the left are possibly Florenz Pottery. The small jug is probably Studio Anna. All these potteries were making tourist and souvenir pottery by the 1950s, and these appropriated [and westernised] indigenous motifs were hugely popular. Post war arts and crafts saw a rise in the popularity of Australiana – replacing traditional English motifs with ‘Australian’ themes; invariably Aboriginal motif works were black, tan and white.

This group works well as a set, or could form the basis of a larger collection. The items on their own are very kitsch…but somehow when grouped the kitschness is subverted into a subtler aesthetic.

This set is for sale: $AU125

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50s kitsch

Kitsch vases
c.1950s

These vases are ‘extreme’ kitsch. Nothing says ‘I am here to hold your flowers’ like a horse, flamingo or garishly coloured swallow. It’s entirely possible I am the only person in the world who likes them. Certainly their manufacturer was reticent to put their name to the vases…they are all unmarked.

The vases look even better when bright, garish flowers are added…the weird juxtaposition of a rearing horse holding flower stems in its front legs is hilarious. That’s why I like kitsch…it’s often –unwittingly- very funny.

For all your kitsch needs….For sale: $AUD75

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60s souvenirware

60s souvenirware
made in Australia

Welcome to Laurieton, a coastal town on the north coast of NSW. Home – at least in the 60s – to bowls and pelicans!

This collection features salt and pepper shakers in the shape of – bowls- with ‘Laurieton N.S.W.’ written in gilt on the sides, and a pelican figurine [somewhat out of scale.] In the world of souvenirware- scale and technical detail wasn’t always a priority. Cheap, kitsch souvenirs that you can give away as gifts to prove you actually WERE in Laurieton was what it was all about.

Souvenirware is increasingly popular amongst collectors. Those once tacky, cheap souvenirs are having a renaissance, with kitschiness celebrated and embraced. That’s certainly why I love it.

This set is for sale; $AUD35

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50s souvenir ware

Studio Anna souvenir dishes, made in Sydney, Australia c.1953
Coronet souvenir dishes, made in Sydney, Australia c.1954

I am particularly drawn to kitsch pottery that has landscape or botanical images…souvenir ware from the 50s is right up my street! I have posted Studio Anna pottery previously- you might remember that its pottery was situated right near where I now live, in inner-Sydney.

The first three dishes- to the left of the image -are by Studio Anna; the Cornet plates are the funky blue plate with flannel flowers, and the shell-shaped dish which features a eucalypt flower. Coronet pottery was a small pottery that operated in Sydney between the wars.

The topmost dish, with a funky 50s hotel image [pool side perspective] is inscribed ‘Hayman Island’, which is a popular tourist destination in Queensland. The round, green dish under Hayman Island is inscribed “Lilac Time, Goulburn’ – Goulburn being a small country town between Sydney and Canberra, and the last landscape dish is a view of ‘Hobart’. Having never been to Australia’s island state, I can’t attest to its 1950s accuracy, but it’s what I image Hobart would have [perhaps still does?] look like.

For Studio Anna collectors, Coronet enthusiasts, or souvenir ware devotees – this collection is for sale: $AUD145

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