Doyle Lane: Master of Clay

From intimate vessels to large-scale architectural commissions, the exhibition examines how Lane expanded the possibilities of ceramics in mid-20th-century California. 

More than 100 works from the 1950s through the 1980s, as well as archival documents, trace Lane’s evolution from functional pottery to monumental murals that transformed ceramics into abstract, light-filled constructions. The exhibition situates Lane within midcentury California modernism and the Southern California studio ceramics movement while examining the barriers he faced as a Black artist. 

Developed over several years, the exhibition draws on extensive archival research and interviews with Lane’s family, friends, collectors and collaborators, bringing together works long dispersed in private and public collections. 

Visitors can also view Lane’s 1964 Mutual Savings and Loan Mural at The Huntington, a 17-by-8-foot installation composed of 4,876 individually glazed tiles.