ABSTRACT
Roger Fry, whose work was instrumental in the Florentine exhibition discussed in Chapter 1, also contributed to an earlier exhibition of ceramics mounted by the Club. Not normally associated with ceramics, Fry is nevertheless representative of the fact that the members of the Burlington Fine Arts Club possessed wide-ranging tastes and expertise in artworks, as demonstrated through their exhibitions. One specic tendency that is notable is a more serious interest in ceramics, almost equal to that of prints and painting, yet many members who collected ceramics, or like Fry contributed to ceramic exhibitions, were not especially known as ceramic collectors or experts. The general popularity of ceramics among Club members is, however, consistent with the taste for ceramics that had been prevalent in Britain from the sixteenth century onwards and which continued throughout the twentieth century.1 During the nineteenth century, ceramics became a signicant aspect of the art market in Britain, particularly from the 1860s when the Club was founded. Partly in consequence, by the second half of the nineteenth century, ceramics were represented in the museum collections of Britain. As we have seen, the Club was founded by a museum professional, J. C. Robinson, and had a number of museum professionals as active members throughout its history. They provided ready access to public ceramic collections and Club members in turn donated ceramics to these institutions. Like paintings and the National Gallery, there was a symbiotic relationship between private collectors of ceramics at the Club and public collections in museums. We should remember too that the founding group of members of the Club, including Robinson, were also core members of the BFAC’s predecessor club, the Fine Arts Club, which specialized in decorative arts, including ceramics.
