Erik Andreas Reiff, ceramist and painter, is born in Holbæk in Denmark on April 21, 1923. He began as a painter and draughtsman in an abstract and expressionist style and at the same time. After the ceramic education with among other the Kähler ceramic workshop in Næstved, Alf Magnusson in Drøbak (Norway) and Sévres in Paris, he has been employed at Bing & Grøndahl (1949-1957), on Knabstrub brickworks (1975-1977) and on The Royal Porcelain Manufactory (1977-1984). While work in these places, he has also always been working at his own workshop. Reiff's pottery is characterized by the simple styles and the use of often spiral ornamentation or stylized leaf and floral patterns.
He has also at times used a lot of kohorns-technique for its simple and beautiful decorations. Through the ages he has been inspired to both Persian and Chinese pottery and porcelain, as well as by Viking art. From the latter part of the 1980s, Reiff again returned to oil painting, where he continues the traditions of the CoBrA painters, as he had much contact in the young years. In 1992 he started together with Tove Reiff "Gallery Reiff". Erik Reiff died on May 19, 2006
Pictures: Erik Reiff, portrait (source GENI);Erik Reiff, portrait (source website artist); bowl Royal Copenhagen, signed ER 82 (source Pinterest); bowl with incised decoration (source unknown); Vase in blue with bird decoration (source Laurtitz.com).
Bibliography:
Ina La Grange, Erik Reiff-shards of a potty's life, 1995.
Erik Andreas Reiff, ceramist and painter, is born in Holbæk in Denmark on April 21, 1923. He began as a painter and draughtsman in an abstract and expressionist style and at the same time. After the ceramic education with among other the Kähler ceramic workshop in Næstved, Alf Magnusson in Drøbak (Norway) and Sévres in Paris, he has been employed at Bing & Grøndahl (1949-1957), on Knabstrub brickworks (1975-1977) and on The Royal Porcelain Manufactory (1977-1984). While work in these places, he has also always been working at his own workshop. Reiff's pottery is characterized by the simple styles and the use of often spiral ornamentation or stylized leaf and floral patterns.
He has also at times used a lot of kohorns-technique for its simple and beautiful decorations. Through the ages he has been inspired to both Persian and Chinese pottery and porcelain, as well as by Viking art. From the latter part of the 1980s, Reiff again returned to oil painting, where he continues the traditions of the CoBrA painters, as he had much contact in the young years. In 1992 he started together with Tove Reiff "Gallery Reiff". Erik Reiff died on May 19, 2006
Pictures: Erik Reiff, portrait (source GENI); Erik Reiff, portrait (source website artist); bowl Royal Copenhagen, signed ER 82 (source Pinterest); bowl with incised decoration (source unknown); Vase in blue with bird decoration (source Laurtitz.com).