Hans Coper: 1920–1981

This Serpentine Gallery exhibition was the first to attempt to survey the German-born British potter Hans Coper’s career.

Coper’s work defied the conventionally drawn distinctions between artists and craftsmen, and was a natural choice for this collaborative show between the Arts Council and the Crafts Council.

Coper began as a potter in Lucie Rie’s London workshop in 1946 and made his last pots in 1979, two years before he died.

The exhibition displayed a comprehensive range of his pottery, and revealed how profoundly sculpture and painting influenced his work.

The retrospective exhibition was first shown at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich in 1983, and later travelled to Germany and the Netherlands before its presentation at the Serpentine Gallery in the summer of 1984.