Wembley Ware - Excitingly Different!, first retrospective of Wembley Ware ceramic 'fancy wares' produced by Brisbane and Wunderlich (1946-1961), co-curated with Melissa Harpley for the Art Gallery of Western Australia, in 2005.
Wembley Ware is iconic of the spirit of post-war buoyancy in Western Australia during the 1950s, and practically every household in Western Australia owned a piece of Wembley Ware during this era. Despite its kitsch appeal, the range is nationally-significant as Australia's largest range of commercially-produced porcelain home wares during an era when the ceramics industry was booming across the country. The exhibition design aimed to reflect this spirit of optimism.
Photographs c/o The Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Wembley Ware - Excitingly Different!, first retrospective of Wembley Ware ceramic 'fancy wares' produced by Brisbane and Wunderlich (1946-1961), co-curated with Melissa Harpley for the Art Gallery of Western Australia, 2005, photographs c/o The Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Wembley Ware - Excitingly Different!, first retrospective of Wembley Ware ceramic 'fancy wares' produced by Brisbane and Wunderlich (1946-1961), co-curated with Melissa Harpley for the Art Gallery of Western Australia, 2005, photographs c/o The Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Wembley Ware - Excitingly Different!, first retrospective of Wembley Ware ceramic 'fancy wares' produced by Brisbane and Wunderlich (1946-1961), co-curated with Melissa Harpley for the Art Gallery of Western Australia, 2005, photographs c/o The Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Though Wembley Ware's faux-Aboriginal designs are today largely considered to be culturally-offensive kitsch, they did produce a range of 'Native Stockman' designs (foreground) that were refreshingly progressive for the era in depicting an heroic Aboriginal stockman (anonymous, but possibly based on artist Albert Namatjira) actively contributing to the Western Australian economy.
Wembley Ware - Excitingly Different!, first retrospective of Wembley Ware ceramic 'fancy wares' produced by Brisbane and Wunderlich (1946-1961), co-curated with Melissa Harpley for the Art Gallery of Western Australia, 2005, photographs c/o The Art Gallery of Western Australia.
At the same time as Brisbane and Wunderlich were producing the Wembley Ware range, they sponsored a number of parks and children's playgrounds around the Perth CBD that emulated Wembley Ware's fanciful aesthetic (photographic documentation viewable in background).
Wembley Ware - Excitingly Different!, first retrospective of Wembley Ware ceramic 'fancy wares' produced by Brisbane and Wunderlich (1946-1961), co-curated with Melissa Harpley for the Art Gallery of Western Australia, 2005, photographs c/o The Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Wembley Ware - Excitingly Different!, first retrospective of Wembley Ware ceramic 'fancy wares' produced by Brisbane and Wunderlich (1946-1961), co-curated with Melissa Harpley for the Art Gallery of Western Australia, 2005, photographs c/o The Art Gallery of Western Australia.