Donald Chisholm Towner (born

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

, East Sussex, England, 1903; died London 1985) was a collector and historian of British ceramics and painter. He is noted for his championship of

creamware Creamware is a cream-coloured refined earthenware with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 175 ...

and his ground-breaking studies of this ceramic type in particular.Rachel Conroy, “‘The most lovely of all ceramics’: the creamware sketches of Donald C Towner at Temple Newsam, Leeds,” in ''English Ceramic Circle Transactions'' Volume 31, 2020, pp. 213-227. ECC, 2021

Early life

Donald Towner was born in Eastbourne in 1903, the youngest of four boys. His father William was a teacher and amateur artist who inspired his interest in nature and art. Donald's great-uncle, John Chisolm Towner, enabled through a legacy the founding of the

Towner Art Gallery Towner Eastbourne (formerly Towner Art Gallery) is an art gallery located in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on the south coast of England. The gallery hosts one of the most significant public art collections in the Southern England, South of England ...

in Eastbourne. Donald Towner went to school as a boarder in 1915 at Southdown College, Willingdon and the attended Eastbourne Municipal School, where he first met

Eric Ravilious Eric William Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs, Castle Hedingham and othe ...

, later gaining a scholarship to the Eastbourne School of Art with Ravilious in 1920. He also attended life drawing classes at Brighton School of Art. Both Towner and Ravilious received further scholarships in 1923 to study at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

in London, graduating with a Diploma in 1926.

Early career as an artist

After graduation from the Royal College of Art, Towner-based himself in London where he first took a studio in

Mornington Crescent Mornington Crescent is a terraced street in Camden Town, London Borough of Camden, Camden, London, England. It was built in the 1820s, on a greenfield site just to the north of central London. Many of the houses were subdivided into flats dur ...

. He then moved to Holly Hill in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

in 1927 with his mother, who had sold the family home in Eastbourne and bought a house there. He rented a studio nearby and stayed at Holly Hill for ten years before moving to 8

Church Row, Hampstead Church Row is a residential street in Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. Many of the properties are listed on the National Heritage List for England. The street runs from Frognal in the west to Heath Street, Hampstead, Heath Street in th ...

in 1937, a terrace house dating to the early eighteenth century. It was at Church Row that Towner first came to appreciate antiques and developed his love for British pottery. His first one-man exhibition was held at the

Leicester Galleries Leicester Galleries was an art gallery located in London from 1902 to 1977 that held exhibitions of modern British, French and international artists' works. Its name was acquired in 1984 by Peter Nahum, who operates "Peter Nahum at the Leiceste ...

, Leicester Square, London in 1938.

Second World War

Towner spent the war years between 1939 and 1945 in the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills in the south-eastern coastal counties of England that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the ...

where he combined agricultural work with commissions for paintings from Bibby, an animal feed company and local farmers. In 1943 he took charge of the Art School at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter, located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. T ...

, Horsham where he stayed until the end of the war. Towner painted mainly in oil, using watercolour for sketches.Rachel Conroy, “‘The most lovely of all ceramics’: the creamware sketches of Donald C Towner at Temple Newsam, Leeds,” in ''English Ceramic Circle Transactions'' Volume 31, 2020, p. 214. ECC, 2021 He is perhaps best known for his paintings of buildings and street scenes, but he also painted nature in an around the South Downs where he grew up and spent the war years, as well as country houses in the region and a few portrait paintings. Several representative works are to be found in UK public collections.

Beginnings as a collector

Towner's interest in collecting ceramics is thought to have started in earnest once he returned to his home at 8 Church Row, Hampstead after the war. A next-door neighbour was Egan Mew, a noted collector and writer of the time and it is possible he guided Towner's early interests. Towner also knew Lord Shelburne, a collector of British and European ceramics whose home at

Hinton Ampner Hinton Ampner is a village and country house estate with gardens and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bramdean and Hinton Ampner, in the City of Winchester, Winchester district, in the county of Hampshire, England. It is near New Alres ...

he painted a number of times in the 1930s.

Ceramic historian

Donald Towner is today chiefly remembered as an historian of ceramics and in particular for his championship of creamware and his ground-breaking studies of this ceramic type. It has been noted that ‘before Donald Towner there was little or no collective use of the term creamware’. His first book, ''English Cream-Coloured Earthenware'', published in 1957, was the first study devoted to the subject. This was later substantially revised as ''Creamware'' in 1978. In 1963 he published ''The Leeds Pottery'', an important study of Leeds-produced creamware. Scholars have since gone on to develop his ideas and sometimes challenge his conclusions whilst considerable progress has been made in identifying individual factory output or even individual potters. However, he remains the acknowledged authority of his day. In 1947 he was elected a member of the English Ceramic Circle, a body devoted to the research of ceramic history (founded in 1927 as the English Porcelain Circle and renamed in 1931), and was for many years a Vice President of the London-based organisation. In 1977 he produced a catalogue in celebration of the ECC's Golden Jubilee together with Robert Charleston, formerly keeper of ceramics at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Donald Towner continued to paint, exhibit and teach art throughout his life. In 1979 he published a memoir entitled ''Recollections of a Landscape Painter & Pottery Collector: an Autobiography''.''Recollections of a Landscape Painter & Pottery Collector: an Autobiography''. New York, Born-Hawes Publishing Limited, 1979. He died in 1985.

Bibliography: Works by Donald Towner

''English Cream-Coloured Earthenware'', London, Faber & Faber, 1957 ''Creamware'', London, Faber & Faber, 1978. (A fully revised edition of Towner 1957.) ''The Leeds Pottery'', London, Cory, Adams & Mackay 1963. (With R J Charleston) ''English Ceramics, 1580-1830: A commemorative catalogue to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the English Ceramic Circle, 1927-1977''. London, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1977.

References

# 1903 births 1985 deaths People from Eastbourne English art historians 20th-century English painters