This exhibition attests to the vital, innovative, and deeply imagina-
tive nature of contemporary ceramics over the last fifty years.
During this period, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's per-
manent collection of ceramic art has grown large and diverse,
reflecting the museum's goal of assembling a comprehensive range
of work from the postwar years to the millennium. Each sculpture,
vessel, and teapot has been selected for its ability to represent the
time and place in which it was created. We are proud to be able to
offer our public this rich survey of the artistic currents, methods,
movements, and formal and intellectual concerns of contemporary
ceramics from 1950 to 2000.

LACMA's assistant curator of decorative arts, Jo Lauria, has
worked for the past five years to strengthen and expand the collec-
tion and to organize this show, a major traveling exhibition of works
from this collection. She has written an illuminating introduction
for this catalogue that charts the museum's ceramics exhibition
and collection history and outlines future goals in this area.

LACMA owes all of its great collections to the generosity of
its supporters. This exhibition is a tribute to the benefactors whose many gifts
have formed the contemporary ceramics collection. Deserving of our most
sincere gratitude are the collector Gwen Laurie Smits and her late husband,
Howard Smits, whose contributions of more than three hundred contemporary
ceramics over the course of the last fifteen years have formed the core of our
collection. Their outstanding generosity has also provided for continued acqui-
sitions through the establishment of a purchase fund in their name. Many of the
exceptional pieces in this catalogue and exhibition are the result of this benev-
olence. We applaud such long-standing commitment and inspired vision. We
also owe a debt of gratitude to the late Rose A. Sperry, collector of Gertrud and
Otto Natzler vessels, and the late Betty M. Asher, collector of contemporary
teacups, for the major donations of their entire collections. Further, subsequent
individual donations have continued to strengthen this core. We are sincerely
grateful to all of our patrons, who have, together, contributed to forming this
substantial collection for the community of Los Angeles.

Andrea L. Rich
President and Director
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

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