Founder of the innovative Galerie Besson in London which was devoted to studio ceramics
The day in 1988 that Anita Besson opened her gallery, with a show by her friend Lucie Rie, will stay long in the minds of the first people through its doors. With Galerie Besson, London at last had a prestigious Bond Street space solely devoted to studio ceramics, established by someone with a strong pedigree in the art world. Rie thought her friend was foolish to open a West End business so dependent on the shaky income pots would probably bring, but Besson, who has died aged 82, saw the creative, if not the financial, potential of ceramics.
It was a subject about which she professed to know very little, but any lack of knowledge would certainly be made up for with enthusiasm, as she determined to give an underrated art form a worthy setting.
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