At the height of her career in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, Leza McVey was one of the best known American ceramists. The strickingly original organic forms that she created won prizes and critical acclaim. Her decision to build ceramics by hand and to shun the traditional symmetry of the potter’s wheel marked a pivotal point in the evolution of modern studio pottery, and her monumental scale equalled the grandeur of her artistic vision.

This abundantly illustrated book explores Leza McVey’s career from the 1930’s through the 1960’s, setting her work against the broad panorama of American art and design: from regionalism and the WPA in the Depression era to Cranbrook Academy in the postwar years, and the emergence of the Post-Modern era.