"Janet Darnell Leach is one of the key potters of the twentieth century. Her work brings together a diverse range of influences, from early American pottery, traditional Japanese and Korean pots to Western studio ceramics. Born in the United States, she married Bernard Leach in 1956 and lived and worked in St. Ives until her death in 1997. This, the first monograph on her work, traces the development of her ideas from the early, more formal pots to the later, freely thrown bottles, bearing the marks and scarring of the wood fire. Acknowledged as an inventive and spirited potter, Janet Leach brought a unique understanding of clay to her work."--BOOK JACKET.