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Una Deerbon

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Una Deerbon (1882–1972) was an Australian studio potter in the early twentieth century. She was uniquely able as a woman potter in that period to support herself and her family.

Personal

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Deerbon was born Una Clare Eden Deane in Woollahra, New South Wales on 16 February 1882.[1] She married in 1904[2] Northumberland-born businessman George Percival Darlow[3][4] alias Richard Relton Wise (1877–1955)[5] who, as Lieutenant Darlow, was wounded in France in 1918.[6] As a married woman Una studied at the Sydney Art School under Julian Ashton and Rayner Hoff at East Sydney Technical College.[7] From 1913 to 1915 she reportedly studied in New York, Chicago, Paris and in London at the Slade School.[8][9][10] In England she had a daughter, Joan Diana Cynthia Darlow, known as Diana Wise-Darlow (1915–2001).[11] Una returned to Sydney to work as an artist and fashion designer for David Jones. She subsequently started her own fashion studio, exhibiting at David Jones and Anthony Hordern under the name Una Darlow (sometimes Darlot). She also published humorous postcards.[12][6] The Darlows divorced in 1920.[13]

In the early 1920s Una moved to Brisbane and started to train as a potter.[14] She met Czech economist Karel Jelinek there in 1922 and they married in 1924 after he had changed his name to Charles Francis Deerbon.[15] They had a son in Sydney, Murray Karel Francis Deerbon (1925–2005).[16] This marriage also collapsed: Deerbon moved to the United States,[17] leaving Una a single mother of two children having to make a living teaching pottery.

Pottery

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Una, as Mrs Una Deerbon, showed her own pots in 1931 at the annual exhibition of the New South Wales Society of Arts and Crafts.[14][18][19] In 1933 she showed over 200 pieces of pottery at Anthony Hordern's gallery.[20] The Sydney Morning Herald found that

The variety both of the forms and of the surface decorations is remarkable. It is only to be expected that the quality of the work done by so adventurous a craftswoman should be uneven. Some of the pieces display admirable delicacy of form, and are decorated in an amusing style. In some pieces there has been less success, particularly in the colour schemes, but all of them are patently the work of an exceedingly enterprising and vigorous potter.[20]

In the same year she brought a collection of 100 ceramics to Melbourne for an exhibition at the Myer Emporium.[21] Typically her pieces consisted of basic bowls, vases or jugs carrying a decoration of hard-glazed earthenware flora or fauna: leaves, daisies, frogs, polar bears … in great variety and profusion.[22][10]

In 1934 she moved with her children to Melbourne and established the Una Deerbon School of Pottery in Collins Street.[7] In 1937 she moved from the city to South Yarra and took her school with her; a "small factory" called Deerbon Pottery was set up there by Una and her daughter Diana in 1938.[7][23] In 1939 she was principal of the Home Industries School of Design, also in Collins Street.[24] She stayed in Melbourne for the rest of her career, still showing her work into the 1960s. She exhibited frequently at Myer, at Georges and at the Ridell Gallery.

She died at ninety on 12 July 1972 at Boronia, Victoria.[25]

Legacy

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Among potters who attended her school were John Castle-Harris (a cousin)[26] and Eric Juckert.[27]

Her work is held in various public collections: the Australian National Gallery, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Shepparton Art Museum, the Ballarat Art Gallery and the Melbourne College of the Arts.

Since 2010 her work has fetched high prices at auction.[14]

Colour photos of Deerbon's work can be seen here: "A name to remember — Una Deerbon". The Accidental Collector. 22 May 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2017.

Further reading

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James, Rodney; Leaver, Relton; Leaver, Peter; Ashkanasy, Mark (photography) (2019). Una Deerbon,1882–1972 : Australian potter. Melbourne, Victoria: Peter and Relton Leaver. ISBN 978-0-9943586-3-9. Available from the website "Una Deerbon". Retrieved 22 September 2019.

References

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  1. ^ New South Wales Births, Deaths and Marriages registration 7814/1882.
  2. ^ NSW Births, Deaths, Marriages registrations 2596/1904 and 4694/1904. In other words, she married the same man twice under his different names.
  3. ^ "Births, Marriages, and Deaths". Newcastle Courant. 23 February 1877. p. 8.
  4. ^ AIF service record, National Archives of Australia, barcode 3488335.
  5. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Women's News". The Sunday Times. No. 1716. New South Wales, Australia. 8 December 1918. p. 15. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  7. ^ a b c "ENTERPRISING WOMEN AND THEIR CAREERS". The Age. No. 25, 723. Victoria, Australia. 25 September 1937. p. 2 (HOME SECTION). Retrieved 19 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ She does not appear on the Slade's published list of alumni.
  9. ^ "Una Deerbon". Australian Prints and Printmaking. Centre for Australian Art. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Decorative Pottery". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 27, 230. Victoria, Australia. 24 November 1933. p. 4. Retrieved 21 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  12. ^ Darlow, Una (1900), The Second Week Edyth: "Has your great love waned for me, Edgar ?", retrieved 21 September 2017
  13. ^ "Divorce". The Daily Telegraph. No. 12964. New South Wales, Australia. 27 November 1920. p. 16. Retrieved 21 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ a b c Cockington, James (2011). "Forgotten potters in vogue". No. May 18. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  15. ^ Queensland Births, Deaths and Marriages.
  16. ^ Ancestry.com; Ryerson Index
  17. ^ According to Ancestry.com the US Census recorded him as in New York City in 1930.
  18. ^ "ANNUAL EXHIBITION". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 29, 264. New South Wales, Australia. 20 October 1931. p. 4. Retrieved 21 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ Actually 1932 according to Timms, Peter (1978). Australian pottery, 1900 to 1950. Shepparton, Vic.: Shepparton Arts Centre. p. 28. ISBN 0959997865.
  20. ^ a b "HAND-MADE POTTERY". The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 13 June 1933. p. 6. Retrieved 19 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. ^ "A POTTER AND HER CLAY". The Age. No. 24, 530. Victoria, Australia. 24 November 1933. p. 8. Retrieved 19 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. ^ Herbert, Harold (13 April 1935). "ART". The Australasian. Vol. CXXXVIII, no. 4, 501. Victoria, Australia. p. 17. Retrieved 21 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  23. ^ "County of Bourke". The Age. No. 26, 058. Victoria, Australia. 24 October 1938. p. 9. Retrieved 25 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  24. ^ "Advertising". The Age. No. 26333. Victoria, Australia. 9 September 1939. p. 30. Retrieved 21 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  25. ^ Victoria Births, Deaths and Marriages.
  26. ^ McPhee, Jon. "Harris, John Castle (Jack) (1893–1967)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  27. ^ "Eric Juckert". Identifying Australian Pottery 1960s to date. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
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