NEW YORK — Few have transcended the physical properties of ceramics as masterfully as the late California potter Doyle Lane (1923-2002).
Moving from New Orleans in 1946, he studied ceramics in Los Angeles and joined a group of Black artists in the El Sereno area of the city. He quickly became known for his weed pots — diminutive clay vessels so named as they could hold only a single flower or sprig. These vessels are highly collectible today, as are his tile assemblages and clay paintings, which break down the walls between painting and sculpture and elevate the medium of ceramics beyond mere vessels.
His pieces are celebrated for their glazing, which Doyle perfected after working for several years as a glaze technician for a chemical supplier, L.H. Butcher. His glazes dribble down, bubble up from, or seemingly eat into the surface of his pieces, bringing them to life.
“People certainly appreciate his mastery of glaze, which we can see both in the surfaces he created [and] also just the depth and the incredible nuance of color that he created,” said Brent Lewis, senior specialist in design at Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA), adding that Lane’s forms are best appreciated up close. Citing his weed pots as an example, he said, “You can see just how balanced and perfectly shaped these small vessels are.”
LAMA, based in the city where Lane thrived, has sold many of his pieces, and achieved a robust price for one of his weed pots in July 2023. The circa-1965 pot with blue and white glazing was larger than most, standing slightly more than four inches tall. It realized $30,000 plus the buyer’s premium.
“This was a beautiful pot. Many of his great weed pots are smaller, but the form and the proportion of this one are so perfectly balanced,” he said. “This glaze was fascinating because it actually was [had] slightly more of a glossy surface. Many of his glazes are more matte or have a flat surface to them in terms of how they catch the light.”
Describing this pot as highly expressive, Lewis said the white and blue glazes were almost drippy in appearance, “where you can see the colors have sort of melted and melded together.”
Lane viewed glazes as tools for creating texture and depth. “He often would use multiple glazes on one vessel, or a double glaze technique where there is an underglaze in one color and a second placed on top in a sometimes contrasting color,” he said. “Through firing, Lane could create these surfaces where the top glaze would open up and burst, revealing the colors of the other glaze that he had applied underneath.”
Thanks to galleries and curators documenting and promoting Doyle Lane, there has been a resurgence of interest in his work, especially in the last few years. And after decades of underappreciation, the market for Lanes has gained strength.
“If you’re reading this article and thinking about dipping your toes in collecting Doyle Lane’s work, then start now,” said Jenny Wilson, fine arts director at John Moran Auctioneers, Inc, based in Monrovia, California. “The market will only become more competitive, and a $20,000 weed pot may start to look like a bargain ten years from now.”
During Lane’s lifetime, he received some gallery showings, but he and many other artists of color were not fully appreciated until recently. He mostly lived off commissions from LA-area architects. “Ten years ago, you could walk through a museum’s Modernist or Abstract Expressionist collection and see only works by white men. Today, we are seeing institutions actively rewrite the canon of art history by exhibiting and celebrating the artists that have been left out of history, in this case the Black ceramicist Doyle Lane,” Wilson said.
The record auction price for Doyle Lane belongs to an untitled clay painting, which represents an instance of the artist departing from vessel-based ceramics. It brought $65,000 plus the buyer’s premium in January 2023 at Rago Arts and Auction Center.
“I think this is a really great representation of Lane’s work in that when you look very closely at it, you can see all of the tiles, and each element is slightly different,” Lewis said. “There is incredible variation amongst these yellow and blue triangles of color, of surface, of tone. You can see just how delicate the balance is for his work, but it’s so perfectly resolved as a whole.”
Lane’s tile wall assemblages, renowned as abstract compositions, reflect his penchant for breaking conventions. A fine example, made up of tiles having thick glazes in a variety of earthy colors, earned $41,275 plus the buyer’s premium in February 2024 at John Moran Auctioneers, Inc.
Coming from the estate of one of Lane’s most ardent patrons, architect Edward Fickett, it is distinguished by the blackened edges around each tile, an effect that Lane achieved by firing them for a long time.
“I think the thing that’s important to note in works like this by Lane is that the artist worked very small, from two kilns,” Wilson said. “To create a work like this and have the ability to transport it with the supplies he had on hand, Lane would have to create each tile one by one. All 157 distinct tiles placed together by Lane create an incredible study in alchemy, modernity, and seriality.”
Circling back to weed pots, these forms, on first glance, only seem like they might be similar; look closer, and it becomes clear that each has its own style and scale. Curator Ricky Swallow, who mounted an exhibition of Lane’s weed pots in summer 2020 at the David Kordansky Gallery, called them “jewels of California modernism.” Nearly five years ago, collectors could acquire a Lane weed pot for a couple thousand dollars each; as of 2024, prices are in the $15,000-$20,000 range.
Lane encouraged collectors to display his weed pots in groupings to best appreciate their individual differences. Two red pots offered at Billings in two different 2024 sales prove the value of the artist’s advice. A 3 ¼in-tall example that sold for $25,000 plus the buyer’s premium in March 2024 has cliff-like sides are almost eaten away. It would contrast nicely with a circa-1970 weed pot having a globular form and a fiery and bubbling glaze, which achieved $27,500 plus the buyer’s premium in June 2024.
Asked the secrets of his success by a magazine reporter in 1981, Lane quipped, “no secret, just work.” Though it took time for his reputation to build, Doyle Lane is finally receiving the credit he is due.
