Customer Reviews

Scandinavian Art Pottery: Denmark and Sweden

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I'll begin by stating that I am an avid collector with extensive knowledge of Scandinavian studio art pottery. And while I don't consider myself necessarily and authority on the topic, I'm not writing a book on it either. I found Hecht's book informative on some levels and largely misinformative or under-informative on others. The information gathered here filled a gap in collector's books that was long overdue. It is unfortunate, however, that this book is littered with very poor and inaccurate references to its topic. It contains either false, nebulous or no reference at all to some pottery marks and their meanings & rarity. Some of the most significant factories and artists are often barely touched on or left out completely while several pages will be devoted to others that are comparatively far less significant. I also found that of those artists featured, many have no reference to their most representative work. Not to mention, 3/4 of the book is devoted to Danish work, with the last afterthought 1/4 to Sweden, which is, in my opinion, diametrically allocated. And as for values, I don't know where these came from -- some are strangely through the roof while the very few absolute hottest collectible artists will be strangely undervalued. I hate to think that the author is providing this to help sell her own collection at terribly inflated values alongside her Fleetwood Mac albums and tour buttons on eBay while picking up the best pieces at lower prices. Some of us are not fooled.

This is the best available introduction to Danish and Swedish pottery that I know of. Especially the chapters on "Royal Copenhagen", "Saxbo" and "Arne Bang" are excellent. The material on Swedish pottery are not at all that good but still O.K.

I'm not a collector of pottery of any kind. I saw this book at a friend's and started reading it. The history of the pottery houses and different genres are very well explained here and it's a compelling read. I was able to even see styles and artists that matched my sensibilities. Overall, I learned something new and saw many pieces of art pottery that I enjoy. I understand why Scandinavian art pottery is so collectable now.