Susan Parkinson Lion & Unicorn

A pair of Modernist ceramic statues in the form of a Lion & Unicorn designed by Susan Parkinson in 1951.

This duo of hand painted, black & white, figurines are greatly responsible for the serendipitous founding of Richard & Susan Parkinson’s pottery.

Thought to be the second piece ever made by Susan at Brabourne Lees was a large earthenware unicorn, the precursor to plaster of Paris models of a lion and unicorn, which were the forerunners of this ceramic pair. [1]

The style of the forms of Susan’s lion and unicorn were inspired by Arnold Machin's Zodiac Bull, manufactured by Wedgwood. First exhibited in 1946’s Britain Can Make It exhibition, Susan was greatly impressed when she saw Zodiac Bull and thought it would be “good fun” to produce a lion and unicorn in a similar style for the Festival of Britain in 1951. [2]

Of course, Susan succeeded in making models of a lion and unicorn, however, not in time for the greatly attended Festival of Britain. Cashmore & Vincent-Smith suggest this was on account of Susan having just knowledge of moulding methods used for sculpture. Namely, it was only techniques in waste and piece moulding that Susan had learned whilst at the Royal College of Art. 

Resultantly, Susan made the first lion and unicorn models in clay and cast them in plaster of Paris, before painting them in an unexacting yet proficient way with ink decoration. And so almost by accident S. Parkinson created the black and white style that was to become the signature of their pottery. However, also using black and white decoration in the early-1950s were Nicholas Vergette and James Tower, amongst the others labelled 'The Picassoettes' who were a great inspiration to Susan Parkinson. [3] 

The final fortuitous ‘development’ regards the Lion & Unicorn becoming available to others was with thanks to the Parkinson’s photographer friend Henry Lewes, who Richard had studied with at Guildford School of Art. Lewes had taken some photographs of S. Parkinson’s work and succeeded in getting an image of the Lion & Unicorn printed in the Architects' Journal, the publication he was doing free-lance work for.

The photo, in the Architects Journal of 9th October 1952, was accompanied by an optimistic description by R Parkinson, however, everyone was astonished that they received orders from architects for the two ink on plaster models. [4]

Enthused by the interest of and demand from architects the Parkinson’s decided that they could produce the models in ceramic and Susan returned to the Royal College of Art for assistance.

Once with moulds the Parkinson’s set about creating a business and their pottery was born. The lion and unicorn, which were model numbers 2 and 3, provided the backbone of the Pottery's commercial success during its first few years. Whilst the ceramic models missed the Festival of Britain, they arrived in good time to commemorate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Naturally, the models made for the Coronation are painted with E"R.

[1] The first piece made by Susan at Brabourne Lees was a terracotta mural featuring five busts.

[2] V&A’s Britain Can Make It exhibition, organised by the Council of Industrial Design, 1946

[3] William Newland & Margaret Hine were also figures disparagingly named 'Picassoettes' by Bernard Leach.

[4] Richard Parkinson’s description beneath the photograph read: "The photograph shows examples of ceramic sculpture designed by Susan Sanderson in white glazed porcelain with lemon yellow, delft blue or lustre decorations. These designs, which are being submitted to the COID (The Council of Industrial Design) for approval as Coronation souvenirs, are produced by Richard Parkinson and Partners, a small country pottery in Kent built in an old stable and oast house.