Beginning in England in the early 1880s, the Arts and Crafts movement spread across the United States and Europe by the late 1880s. It celebrated the importance of beauty in everyday objects and urged a reconnection to nearby nature. The movement resisted the way industrial mass production undermined artisan crafts and was inspired by the ideas of artisan William Morris and writer John Ruskin. Valuing hand-made objects using traditional materials, it was known for a color palette of earth tones. Its artistic principles replaced realistic, colorful, and three-dimensional designs with more abstract and simplified forms using subdued tones. Stylized plant forms and matte glazes echoed a shift to quiet restraint in household décor. The Arts and Crafts movement also embraced social ideals, including respect for skilled hand labor and concern for the quality of producers’ lives. The movement struggled with the tension between the cost of beautiful crafts and the limited number of households able to afford them. Some potters relied on practical products such as drain tiles to boost income or supported themselves with teaching or publications. Arts and Crafts influence extended to other endeavors, including furniture, such as Stickley’s Mission Style, and architecture, such as the Arts and Crafts bungalow, built widely across the United States. American Arts and Crafts pottery flourished between 1880 and the first World War, though several potteries continued in successful operation into the later 20^th^ century.
About Rookwood Pottery:
Rookwood is one of the most famous of the late nineteenth century art potteries, and it is the most extensively represented in the Smithsonian collection. Maria Longworth Nichols, its founder, began work as a china painter in 1873 and was part of the China Decorating Group in Cincinnati (see About Mary Louise McLaughlin). Inspired by French and Japanese pottery displayed in the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, she began to learn ceramic techniques, and in 1880, her father offered her “an old schoolhouse” that became her working pottery. Her family continued financial support until her father’s death in 1883, when William Watts Taylor joined Rookwood Pottery as an administrator and partner, bringing a new business-oriented approach. Taylor expanded production and hired men decorators for the first time, though the majority of artists employed over the years were women. In 1884, artist Laura Frye innovated the application of underglaze slips using an atomizer, which allowed the subtle gradations of color that became a signature of Rookwood pottery and was adopted elsewhere. In 1889, Rookwood was awarded a Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition, “placing the enterprise at the forefront of the world’s potteries” (Evans 1987:257). In 1890, Maria Nichols, now married to Bellamy Storer, withdrew from the firm, leaving Taylor as director. The firm continued to grow, developed rich matte and bright glazes, and emphasized plant and floral designs. The company employed a Japanese artist, Kataro Shiryamadani, who produced many designs reflecting a Japanese aesthetic. Later subjects included portraits of native Americans and historical figures. The firm also introduced pottery with electro-deposited silver overlay designs.
Rookwood developed a matte glaze around 1900 to compete with the forest-green hues of the popular Grueby Faience Company. Unlike Grueby’s glaze, which appeared waxy and leafy, Rookwood’s interpretation often used pastel tones with a vellum-like finish. Rookwood’s earlier Standard Glaze (a deep mahogany brown color graduating into yellow) transitioned into a number of popular blue, green, and lavender glazes, following consumer trends. Rookwood’s prize-winning vellum glaze brought international recognition. Architectural tile production began in 1901, and examples can be seen in the New York subway stations. After 1915, production shifted to more mass-produced ware, “rich, heavy, and simple in color,” which allowed the pottery to survive through two World Wars and the Great Depression (Evans 1987:257). An astonishing “forty thousand glaze formulas were listed at the factory and more than five hundred glazes were in daily use” (Kovel and Kovel 1993:189). In 1956, the firm was moved to Mississippi and finally closed in 1967.
(Evans, Paul, 1987. Art Pottery of the United States. New York: Feingold and Lewis Publishing Corp.; Kovel, Ralph and Terry Kovel, 1993. Kovels’ American Art Pottery: The Collector’s Guide to Makers, Marks and Factory Histories. New York: Crown Publishers.)
Beginning in England in the early 1880s, the Arts and Crafts movement spread across the United States and Europe by the late 1880s. It celebrated the importance of beauty in everyday objects and urged a reconnection to nearby nature. The movement resisted the way industrial mass production undermined artisan crafts and was inspired by the ideas of artisan William Morris and writer John Ruskin. Valuing hand-made objects using traditional materials, it was known for a color palette of earth tones. Its artistic principles replaced realistic, colorful, and three-dimensional designs with more abstract and simplified forms using subdued tones. Stylized plant forms and matte glazes echoed a shift to quiet restraint in household décor. The Arts and Crafts movement also embraced social ideals, including respect for skilled hand labor and concern for the quality of producers’ lives. The movement struggled with the tension between the cost of beautiful crafts and the limited number of households able to afford them. Some potters relied on practical products such as drain tiles to boost income or supported themselves with teaching or publications. Arts and Crafts influence extended to other endeavors, including furniture, such as Stickley’s Mission Style, and architecture, such as the Arts and Crafts bungalow, built widely across the United States. American Arts and Crafts pottery flourished between 1880 and the first World War, though several potteries continued in successful operation into the later 20^th^ century.
About Mary Louise McLaughlin:
Mary Louise McLaughlin was a major figure in the development of American art pottery, though she did not have a pottery company of her own for much of her career. The birth of art pottery in the United States is generally credited to the Cincinnati School of Design, where a ladies’ china painting class began in 1874. Out of that experience was formed the Pottery Club of Cincinnati, with over a dozen women, which was the base for the founding of many art potteries in Cincinnati. McLaughlin, together with Maria Longworth Nichols, later founder of Rookwood Pottery, helped pay for the kilns and other expenses of the Club. McLaughlin’s skills as an over-glaze china painter led her to write a book on the subject in 1877, and she began experiments with underglaze painting, inspired by French faience she had seen in the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876. Her technique of underglaze painting with clay slip on damp unfired pots became the norm for all Cincinnati faience firms, including Rookwood. The Club rented space from the Rookwood pottery in 1881 but was evicted a few years later; it disbanded in 1890 for financial reasons.
In 1885, the break with Rookwood left McLaughlin and colleagues without workers to throw and fire their decorated pots, and McLaughlin returned to china painting with the Kensington Art Tile Company of Newport, Kentucky. This second phase of her career lasted ten years, during which she further developed a style called American faience, which she had patented in 1984. McLaughlin considered her most important contribution to be the development of true hard-paste porcelain Losanti ware, produced in a kiln at her home in Cincinnati. This third phase of her career began in 1898 and encompassed eighteen pottery bodies and over forty glazes. In 1901, high-firing produced a creamy-white translucent porcelain ware that was recognized at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo that year. She experimented with delicate incised techniques that then filled the openings with glaze, for further translucent effects (Evans 1987:148). McLaughlin abandoned porcelain in 1906 but continued her artistic output in painting, lace, embroidery, weaving, and jewelry design.
Although Victorian women were still culturally expected to fulfill duties in the home, the Arts and Crafts movement saw a surge of women playing prominent roles in the decorative arts. Like her colleagues Adelaide Alsop Robineau and Maria Longworth Nichols Storer, McLaughlin was a prominent woman ceramicist whom her contemporaries recognized during her lifetime; celebrated furniture designer Gustav Stickley featured several articles about her work in his journal, The Craftsman.
(Evans, Paul, 1987. Art Pottery of the United States. New York: Feingold and Lewis Publishing Corp.)
About the Object:
Urn shape, cylinder neck. Light green, red, and purple with heavy relief carving. Glossy glaze. Made by Mary Louise McLaughlin at the Early Cincinnati Pottery.
Beginning in England in the early 1880s, the Arts and Crafts movement spread across the United States and Europe by the late 1880s. It celebrated the importance of beauty in everyday objects and urged a reconnection to nearby nature. The movement resisted the way industrial mass production undermined artisan crafts and was inspired by the ideas of artisan William Morris and writer John Ruskin. Valuing hand-made objects using traditional materials, it was known for a color palette of earth tones. Its artistic principles replaced realistic, colorful, and three-dimensional designs with more abstract and simplified forms using subdued tones. Stylized plant forms and matte glazes echoed a shift to quiet restraint in household décor. The Arts and Crafts movement also embraced social ideals, including respect for skilled hand labor and concern for the quality of producers’ lives. The movement struggled with the tension between the cost of beautiful crafts and the limited number of households able to afford them. Some potters relied on practical products such as drain tiles to boost income or supported themselves with teaching or publications. Arts and Crafts influence extended to other endeavors, including furniture, such as Stickley’s Mission Style, and architecture, such as the Arts and Crafts bungalow, built widely across the United States. American Arts and Crafts pottery flourished between 1880 and the first World War, though several potteries continued in successful operation into the later 20^th^ century.
About Rookwood Pottery:
Rookwood is one of the most famous of the late nineteenth century art potteries, and it is the most extensively represented in the Smithsonian collection. Maria Longworth Nichols, its founder, began work as a china painter in 1873 and was part of the China Decorating Group in Cincinnati (see About Mary Louise McLaughlin). Inspired by French and Japanese pottery displayed in the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, she began to learn ceramic techniques, and in 1880, her father offered her “an old schoolhouse” that became her working pottery. Her family continued financial support until her father’s death in 1883, when William Watts Taylor joined Rookwood Pottery as an administrator and partner, bringing a new business-oriented approach. Taylor expanded production and hired men decorators for the first time, though the majority of artists employed over the years were women. In 1884, artist Laura Frye innovated the application of underglaze slips using an atomizer, which allowed the subtle gradations of color that became a signature of Rookwood pottery and was adopted elsewhere. In 1889, Rookwood was awarded a Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition, “placing the enterprise at the forefront of the world’s potteries” (Evans 1987:257). In 1890, Maria Nichols, now married to Bellamy Storer, withdrew from the firm, leaving Taylor as director. The firm continued to grow, developed rich matte and bright glazes, and emphasized plant and floral designs. The company employed a Japanese artist, Kataro Shiryamadani, who produced many designs reflecting a Japanese aesthetic. Later subjects included portraits of native Americans and historical figures. The firm also introduced pottery with electro-deposited silver overlay designs.
Rookwood developed a matte glaze around 1900 to compete with the forest-green hues of the popular Grueby Faience Company. Unlike Grueby’s glaze, which appeared waxy and leafy, Rookwood’s interpretation often used pastel tones with a vellum-like finish. Rookwood’s earlier Standard Glaze (a deep mahogany brown color graduating into yellow) transitioned into a number of popular blue, green, and lavender glazes, following consumer trends. Rookwood’s prize-winning vellum glaze brought international recognition. Architectural tile production began in 1901, and examples can be seen in the New York subway stations. After 1915, production shifted to more mass-produced ware, “rich, heavy, and simple in color,” which allowed the pottery to survive through two World Wars and the Great Depression (Evans 1987:257). An astonishing “forty thousand glaze formulas were listed at the factory and more than five hundred glazes were in daily use” (Kovel and Kovel 1993:189). In 1956, the firm was moved to Mississippi and finally closed in 1967.
(Evans, Paul, 1987. Art Pottery of the United States. New York: Feingold and Lewis Publishing Corp.; Kovel, Ralph and Terry Kovel, 1993. Kovels’ American Art Pottery: The Collector’s Guide to Makers, Marks and Factory Histories. New York: Crown Publishers.)
Beginning in England in the early 1880s, the Arts and Crafts movement spread across the United States and Europe by the late 1880s. It celebrated the importance of beauty in everyday objects and urged a reconnection to nearby nature. The movement resisted the way industrial mass production undermined artisan crafts and was inspired by the ideas of artisan William Morris and writer John Ruskin. Valuing hand-made objects using traditional materials, it was known for a color palette of earth tones. Its artistic principles replaced realistic, colorful, and three-dimensional designs with more abstract and simplified forms using subdued tones. Stylized plant forms and matte glazes echoed a shift to quiet restraint in household décor. The Arts and Crafts movement also embraced social ideals, including respect for skilled hand labor and concern for the quality of producers’ lives. The movement struggled with the tension between the cost of beautiful crafts and the limited number of households able to afford them. Some potters relied on practical products such as drain tiles to boost income or supported themselves with teaching or publications. Arts and Crafts influence extended to other endeavors, including furniture, such as Stickley’s Mission Style, and architecture, such as the Arts and Crafts bungalow, built widely across the United States. American Arts and Crafts pottery flourished between 1880 and the first World War, though several potteries continued in successful operation into the later 20th century.
About Wheatley Pottery:
Thomas Jerome Wheatley founded T.A. Wheatley and Company in Cincinnati in 1880 and carried out all the tasks of pottery production himself, from molding and glazing to firing. His designs featured the underglaze slip-painted technique developed earlier by Mary Louise McLaughlin in that city. Sales to Tiffany and Company and other outlets led to an expansion, and Wheatley joined with others in the Cincinnati Art Pottery at the end of that year. By 1882, Wheatley left the Cincinnati Art Pottery group, the T.A. Wheatley company later closed, and in 1897 he joined the Weller Pottery in Zanesville, Ohio. In 1900, he returned to Cincinnati and established Wheatley Pottery in 1903, in association with Isaac Kahn. His work featured relief decorations, covered in dark green, yellow, and blue matte glazes. Art pottery seems to have been discontinued after a fire in 1910, and Wheatley passed away in 1917. Hahn continued the firm, emphasizing tile and garden ware, until 1927. The plant closed in 1936.
Beginning in England in the early 1880s, the Arts and Crafts movement spread across the United States and Europe by the late 1880s. It celebrated the importance of beauty in everyday objects and urged a reconnection to nearby nature. The movement resisted the way industrial mass production undermined artisan crafts and was inspired by the ideas of artisan William Morris and writer John Ruskin. Valuing hand-made objects using traditional materials, it was known for a color palette of earth tones. Its artistic principles replaced realistic, colorful, and three-dimensional designs with more abstract and simplified forms using subdued tones. Stylized plant forms and matte glazes echoed a shift to quiet restraint in household décor. The Arts and Crafts movement also embraced social ideals, including respect for skilled hand labor and concern for the quality of producers’ lives. The movement struggled with the tension between the cost of beautiful crafts and the limited number of households able to afford them. Some potters relied on practical products such as drain tiles to boost income or supported themselves with teaching or publications. Arts and Crafts influence extended to other endeavors, including furniture, such as Stickley’s Mission Style, and architecture, such as the Arts and Crafts bungalow, built widely across the United States. American Arts and Crafts pottery flourished between 1880 and the first World War, though several potteries continued in successful operation into the later 20^th^ century.
About Rookwood Pottery:
Rookwood is one of the most famous of the late nineteenth century art potteries, and it is the most extensively represented in the Smithsonian collection. Maria Longworth Nichols, its founder, began work as a china painter in 1873 and was part of the China Decorating Group in Cincinnati (see About Mary Louise McLaughlin). Inspired by French and Japanese pottery displayed in the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, she began to learn ceramic techniques, and in 1880, her father offered her “an old schoolhouse” that became her working pottery. Her family continued financial support until her father’s death in 1883, when William Watts Taylor joined Rookwood Pottery as an administrator and partner, bringing a new business-oriented approach. Taylor expanded production and hired men decorators for the first time, though the majority of artists employed over the years were women. In 1884, artist Laura Frye innovated the application of underglaze slips using an atomizer, which allowed the subtle gradations of color that became a signature of Rookwood pottery and was adopted elsewhere. In 1889, Rookwood was awarded a Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition, “placing the enterprise at the forefront of the world’s potteries” (Evans 1987:257). In 1890, Maria Nichols, now married to Bellamy Storer, withdrew from the firm, leaving Taylor as director. The firm continued to grow, developed rich matte and bright glazes, and emphasized plant and floral designs. The company employed a Japanese artist, Kataro Shiryamadani, who produced many designs reflecting a Japanese aesthetic. Later subjects included portraits of native Americans and historical figures. The firm also introduced pottery with electro-deposited silver overlay designs.
Rookwood developed a matte glaze around 1900 to compete with the forest-green hues of the popular Grueby Faience Company. Unlike Grueby’s glaze, which appeared waxy and leafy, Rookwood’s interpretation often used pastel tones with a vellum-like finish. Rookwood’s earlier Standard Glaze (a deep mahogany brown color graduating into yellow) transitioned into a number of popular blue, green, and lavender glazes, following consumer trends. Rookwood’s prize-winning vellum glaze brought international recognition. Architectural tile production began in 1901, and examples can be seen in the New York subway stations. After 1915, production shifted to more mass-produced ware, “rich, heavy, and simple in color,” which allowed the pottery to survive through two World Wars and the Great Depression (Evans 1987:257). An astonishing “forty thousand glaze formulas were listed at the factory and more than five hundred glazes were in daily use” (Kovel and Kovel 1993:189). In 1956, the firm was moved to Mississippi and finally closed in 1967.
(Evans, Paul, 1987. Art Pottery of the United States. New York: Feingold and Lewis Publishing Corp.; Kovel, Ralph and Terry Kovel, 1993. Kovels’ American Art Pottery: The Collector’s Guide to Makers, Marks and Factory Histories. New York: Crown Publishers.)
About the Object:
Landscape with mountains, lake and trees in polychrome cuenca. Marked on back: Rookwood without flame points.
Beginning in England in the early 1880s, the Arts and Crafts movement spread across the United States and Europe by the late 1880s. It celebrated the importance of beauty in everyday objects and urged a reconnection to nearby nature. The movement resisted the way industrial mass production undermined artisan crafts and was inspired by the ideas of artisan William Morris and writer John Ruskin. Valuing hand-made objects using traditional materials, it was known for a color palette of earth tones. Its artistic principles replaced realistic, colorful, and three-dimensional designs with more abstract and simplified forms using subdued tones. Stylized plant forms and matte glazes echoed a shift to quiet restraint in household décor. The Arts and Crafts movement also embraced social ideals, including respect for skilled hand labor and concern for the quality of producers’ lives. The movement struggled with the tension between the cost of beautiful crafts and the limited number of households able to afford them. Some potters relied on practical products such as drain tiles to boost income or supported themselves with teaching or publications. Arts and Crafts influence extended to other endeavors, including furniture, such as Stickley’s Mission Style, and architecture, such as the Arts and Crafts bungalow, built widely across the United States. American Arts and Crafts pottery flourished between 1880 and the first World War, though several potteries continued in successful operation into the later 20^th^ century.
About Rookwood Pottery:
Rookwood is one of the most famous of the late nineteenth century art potteries, and it is the most extensively represented in the Smithsonian collection. Maria Longworth Nichols, its founder, began work as a china painter in 1873 and was part of the China Decorating Group in Cincinnati (see About Mary Louise McLaughlin). Inspired by French and Japanese pottery displayed in the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, she began to learn ceramic techniques, and in 1880, her father offered her “an old schoolhouse” that became her working pottery. Her family continued financial support until her father’s death in 1883, when William Watts Taylor joined Rookwood Pottery as an administrator and partner, bringing a new business-oriented approach. Taylor expanded production and hired men decorators for the first time, though the majority of artists employed over the years were women. In 1884, artist Laura Frye innovated the application of underglaze slips using an atomizer, which allowed the subtle gradations of color that became a signature of Rookwood pottery and was adopted elsewhere. In 1889, Rookwood was awarded a Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition, “placing the enterprise at the forefront of the world’s potteries” (Evans 1987:257). In 1890, Maria Nichols, now married to Bellamy Storer, withdrew from the firm, leaving Taylor as director. The firm continued to grow, developed rich matte and bright glazes, and emphasized plant and floral designs. The company employed a Japanese artist, Kataro Shiryamadani, who produced many designs reflecting a Japanese aesthetic. Later subjects included portraits of native Americans and historical figures. The firm also introduced pottery with electro-deposited silver overlay designs.
Rookwood developed a matte glaze around 1900 to compete with the forest-green hues of the popular Grueby Faience Company. Unlike Grueby’s glaze, which appeared waxy and leafy, Rookwood’s interpretation often used pastel tones with a vellum-like finish. Rookwood’s earlier Standard Glaze (a deep mahogany brown color graduating into yellow) transitioned into a number of popular blue, green, and lavender glazes, following consumer trends. Rookwood’s prize-winning vellum glaze brought international recognition. Architectural tile production began in 1901, and examples can be seen in the New York subway stations. After 1915, production shifted to more mass-produced ware, “rich, heavy, and simple in color,” which allowed the pottery to survive through two World Wars and the Great Depression (Evans 1987:257). An astonishing “forty thousand glaze formulas were listed at the factory and more than five hundred glazes were in daily use” (Kovel and Kovel 1993:189). In 1956, the firm was moved to Mississippi and finally closed in 1967.
(Evans, Paul, 1987. Art Pottery of the United States. New York: Feingold and Lewis Publishing Corp.; Kovel, Ralph and Terry Kovel, 1993. Kovels’ American Art Pottery: The Collector’s Guide to Makers, Marks and Factory Histories. New York: Crown Publishers.)
Beginning in England in the early 1880s, the Arts and Crafts movement spread across the United States and Europe by the late 1880s. It celebrated the importance of beauty in everyday objects and urged a reconnection to nearby nature. The movement resisted the way industrial mass production undermined artisan crafts and was inspired by the ideas of artisan William Morris and writer John Ruskin. Valuing hand-made objects using traditional materials, it was known for a color palette of earth tones. Its artistic principles replaced realistic, colorful, and three-dimensional designs with more abstract and simplified forms using subdued tones. Stylized plant forms and matte glazes echoed a shift to quiet restraint in household décor. The Arts and Crafts movement also embraced social ideals, including respect for skilled hand labor and concern for the quality of producers’ lives. The movement struggled with the tension between the cost of beautiful crafts and the limited number of households able to afford them. Some potters relied on practical products such as drain tiles to boost income or supported themselves with teaching or publications. Arts and Crafts influence extended to other endeavors, including furniture, such as Stickley’s Mission Style, and architecture, such as the Arts and Crafts bungalow, built widely across the United States. American Arts and Crafts pottery flourished between 1880 and the first World War, though several potteries continued in successful operation into the later 20^th^ century.
About Rookwood Pottery:
Rookwood is one of the most famous of the late nineteenth century art potteries, and it is the most extensively represented in the Smithsonian collection. Maria Longworth Nichols, its founder, began work as a china painter in 1873 and was part of the China Decorating Group in Cincinnati (see About Mary Louise McLaughlin). Inspired by French and Japanese pottery displayed in the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, she began to learn ceramic techniques, and in 1880, her father offered her “an old schoolhouse” that became her working pottery. Her family continued financial support until her father’s death in 1883, when William Watts Taylor joined Rookwood Pottery as an administrator and partner, bringing a new business-oriented approach. Taylor expanded production and hired men decorators for the first time, though the majority of artists employed over the years were women. In 1884, artist Laura Frye innovated the application of underglaze slips using an atomizer, which allowed the subtle gradations of color that became a signature of Rookwood pottery and was adopted elsewhere. In 1889, Rookwood was awarded a Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition, “placing the enterprise at the forefront of the world’s potteries” (Evans 1987:257). In 1890, Maria Nichols, now married to Bellamy Storer, withdrew from the firm, leaving Taylor as director. The firm continued to grow, developed rich matte and bright glazes, and emphasized plant and floral designs. The company employed a Japanese artist, Kataro Shiryamadani, who produced many designs reflecting a Japanese aesthetic. Later subjects included portraits of native Americans and historical figures. The firm also introduced pottery with electro-deposited silver overlay designs.
Rookwood developed a matte glaze around 1900 to compete with the forest-green hues of the popular Grueby Faience Company. Unlike Grueby’s glaze, which appeared waxy and leafy, Rookwood’s interpretation often used pastel tones with a vellum-like finish. Rookwood’s earlier Standard Glaze (a deep mahogany brown color graduating into yellow) transitioned into a number of popular blue, green, and lavender glazes, following consumer trends. Rookwood’s prize-winning vellum glaze brought international recognition. Architectural tile production began in 1901, and examples can be seen in the New York subway stations. After 1915, production shifted to more mass-produced ware, “rich, heavy, and simple in color,” which allowed the pottery to survive through two World Wars and the Great Depression (Evans 1987:257). An astonishing “forty thousand glaze formulas were listed at the factory and more than five hundred glazes were in daily use” (Kovel and Kovel 1993:189). In 1956, the firm was moved to Mississippi and finally closed in 1967.
(Evans, Paul, 1987. Art Pottery of the United States. New York: Feingold and Lewis Publishing Corp.; Kovel, Ralph and Terry Kovel, 1993. Kovels’ American Art Pottery: The Collector’s Guide to Makers, Marks and Factory Histories. New York: Crown Publishers.)
Beginning in England in the early 1880s, the Arts and Crafts movement spread across the United States and Europe by the late 1880s. It celebrated the importance of beauty in everyday objects and urged a reconnection to nearby nature. The movement resisted the way industrial mass production undermined artisan crafts and was inspired by the ideas of artisan William Morris and writer John Ruskin. Valuing hand-made objects using traditional materials, it was known for a color palette of earth tones. Its artistic principles replaced realistic, colorful, and three-dimensional designs with more abstract and simplified forms using subdued tones. Stylized plant forms and matte glazes echoed a shift to quiet restraint in household décor. The Arts and Crafts movement also embraced social ideals, including respect for skilled hand labor and concern for the quality of producers’ lives. The movement struggled with the tension between the cost of beautiful crafts and the limited number of households able to afford them. Some potters relied on practical products such as drain tiles to boost income or supported themselves with teaching or publications. Arts and Crafts influence extended to other endeavors, including furniture, such as Stickley’s Mission Style, and architecture, such as the Arts and Crafts bungalow, built widely across the United States. American Arts and Crafts pottery flourished between 1880 and the first World War, though several potteries continued in successful operation into the later 20^th^ century.
About Rookwood Pottery:
Rookwood is one of the most famous of the late nineteenth century art potteries, and it is the most extensively represented in the Smithsonian collection. Maria Longworth Nichols, its founder, began work as a china painter in 1873 and was part of the China Decorating Group in Cincinnati (see About Mary Louise McLaughlin). Inspired by French and Japanese pottery displayed in the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, she began to learn ceramic techniques, and in 1880, her father offered her “an old schoolhouse” that became her working pottery. Her family continued financial support until her father’s death in 1883, when William Watts Taylor joined Rookwood Pottery as an administrator and partner, bringing a new business-oriented approach. Taylor expanded production and hired men decorators for the first time, though the majority of artists employed over the years were women. In 1884, artist Laura Frye innovated the application of underglaze slips using an atomizer, which allowed the subtle gradations of color that became a signature of Rookwood pottery and was adopted elsewhere. In 1889, Rookwood was awarded a Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition, “placing the enterprise at the forefront of the world’s potteries” (Evans 1987:257). In 1890, Maria Nichols, now married to Bellamy Storer, withdrew from the firm, leaving Taylor as director. The firm continued to grow, developed rich matte and bright glazes, and emphasized plant and floral designs. The company employed a Japanese artist, Kataro Shiryamadani, who produced many designs reflecting a Japanese aesthetic. Later subjects included portraits of native Americans and historical figures. The firm also introduced pottery with electro-deposited silver overlay designs.
Rookwood developed a matte glaze around 1900 to compete with the forest-green hues of the popular Grueby Faience Company. Unlike Grueby’s glaze, which appeared waxy and leafy, Rookwood’s interpretation often used pastel tones with a vellum-like finish. Rookwood’s earlier Standard Glaze (a deep mahogany brown color graduating into yellow) transitioned into a number of popular blue, green, and lavender glazes, following consumer trends. Rookwood’s prize-winning vellum glaze brought international recognition. Architectural tile production began in 1901, and examples can be seen in the New York subway stations. After 1915, production shifted to more mass-produced ware, “rich, heavy, and simple in color,” which allowed the pottery to survive through two World Wars and the Great Depression (Evans 1987:257). An astonishing “forty thousand glaze formulas were listed at the factory and more than five hundred glazes were in daily use” (Kovel and Kovel 1993:189). In 1956, the firm was moved to Mississippi and finally closed in 1967.
(Evans, Paul, 1987. Art Pottery of the United States. New York: Feingold and Lewis Publishing Corp.; Kovel, Ralph and Terry Kovel, 1993. Kovels’ American Art Pottery: The Collector’s Guide to Makers, Marks and Factory Histories. New York: Crown Publishers.)
Beginning in England in the early 1880s, the Arts and Crafts movement spread across the United States and Europe by the late 1880s. It celebrated the importance of beauty in everyday objects and urged a reconnection to nearby nature. The movement resisted the way industrial mass production undermined artisan crafts and was inspired by the ideas of artisan William Morris and writer John Ruskin. Valuing hand-made objects using traditional materials, it was known for a color palette of earth tones. Its artistic principles replaced realistic, colorful, and three-dimensional designs with more abstract and simplified forms using subdued tones. Stylized plant forms and matte glazes echoed a shift to quiet restraint in household décor. The Arts and Crafts movement also embraced social ideals, including respect for skilled hand labor and concern for the quality of producers’ lives. The movement struggled with the tension between the cost of beautiful crafts and the limited number of households able to afford them. Some potters relied on practical products such as drain tiles to boost income or supported themselves with teaching or publications. Arts and Crafts influence extended to other endeavors, including furniture, such as Stickley’s Mission Style, and architecture, such as the Arts and Crafts bungalow, built widely across the United States. American Arts and Crafts pottery flourished between 1880 and the first World War, though several potteries continued in successful operation into the later 20^th^ century.
About Rookwood Pottery:
Rookwood is one of the most famous of the late nineteenth century art potteries, and it is the most extensively represented in the Smithsonian collection. Maria Longworth Nichols, its founder, began work as a china painter in 1873 and was part of the China Decorating Group in Cincinnati (see About Mary Louise McLaughlin). Inspired by French and Japanese pottery displayed in the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, she began to learn ceramic techniques, and in 1880, her father offered her “an old schoolhouse” that became her working pottery. Her family continued financial support until her father’s death in 1883, when William Watts Taylor joined Rookwood Pottery as an administrator and partner, bringing a new business-oriented approach. Taylor expanded production and hired men decorators for the first time, though the majority of artists employed over the years were women. In 1884, artist Laura Frye innovated the application of underglaze slips using an atomizer, which allowed the subtle gradations of color that became a signature of Rookwood pottery and was adopted elsewhere. In 1889, Rookwood was awarded a Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition, “placing the enterprise at the forefront of the world’s potteries” (Evans 1987:257). In 1890, Maria Nichols, now married to Bellamy Storer, withdrew from the firm, leaving Taylor as director. The firm continued to grow, developed rich matte and bright glazes, and emphasized plant and floral designs. The company employed a Japanese artist, Kataro Shiryamadani, who produced many designs reflecting a Japanese aesthetic. Later subjects included portraits of native Americans and historical figures. The firm also introduced pottery with electro-deposited silver overlay designs.
Rookwood developed a matte glaze around 1900 to compete with the forest-green hues of the popular Grueby Faience Company. Unlike Grueby’s glaze, which appeared waxy and leafy, Rookwood’s interpretation often used pastel tones with a vellum-like finish. Rookwood’s earlier Standard Glaze (a deep mahogany brown color graduating into yellow) transitioned into a number of popular blue, green, and lavender glazes, following consumer trends. Rookwood’s prize-winning vellum glaze brought international recognition. Architectural tile production began in 1901, and examples can be seen in the New York subway stations. After 1915, production shifted to more mass-produced ware, “rich, heavy, and simple in color,” which allowed the pottery to survive through two World Wars and the Great Depression (Evans 1987:257). An astonishing “forty thousand glaze formulas were listed at the factory and more than five hundred glazes were in daily use” (Kovel and Kovel 1993:189). In 1956, the firm was moved to Mississippi and finally closed in 1967.
(Evans, Paul, 1987. Art Pottery of the United States. New York: Feingold and Lewis Publishing Corp.; Kovel, Ralph and Terry Kovel, 1993. Kovels’ American Art Pottery: The Collector’s Guide to Makers, Marks and Factory Histories. New York: Crown Publishers.)
Beginning in England in the early 1880s, the Arts and Crafts movement spread across the United States and Europe by the late 1880s. It celebrated the importance of beauty in everyday objects and urged a reconnection to nearby nature. The movement resisted the way industrial mass production undermined artisan crafts and was inspired by the ideas of artisan William Morris and writer John Ruskin. Valuing hand-made objects using traditional materials, it was known for a color palette of earth tones. Its artistic principles replaced realistic, colorful, and three-dimensional designs with more abstract and simplified forms using subdued tones. Stylized plant forms and matte glazes echoed a shift to quiet restraint in household décor. The Arts and Crafts movement also embraced social ideals, including respect for skilled hand labor and concern for the quality of producers’ lives. The movement struggled with the tension between the cost of beautiful crafts and the limited number of households able to afford them. Some potters relied on practical products such as drain tiles to boost income or supported themselves with teaching or publications. Arts and Crafts influence extended to other endeavors, including furniture, such as Stickley’s Mission Style, and architecture, such as the Arts and Crafts bungalow, built widely across the United States. American Arts and Crafts pottery flourished between 1880 and the first World War, though several potteries continued in successful operation into the later 20^th^ century.
About Weller Pottery:
Samuel A. Weller founded Weller Pottery in 1987 in Fultonham, Ohio, his hometown. Relocated later to Zanesville to take advantage of both clay deposits and natural gas for the kilns, Weller is credited with producing the first fancy glazed ware in Zanesville in 1893. After acquiring Lonhuda Pottery, Weller began to produce underglaze-decorated artware with subtle color gradations produced with an atomizer, echoing the technique pioneered by Rookwood Pottery. Over the years, Weller, Roseville, and Owens Potteries followed the artistic lead of Rookwood, finding ways to mass produce popular forms and colors. Between 1902 and 1907, Weller Pottery was distinguished by the work of French designer Jacques Sicard, who developed intense metallic lusters on iridescent backgrounds. After 1910, wares were designed to require less individual artistic attention, and by 1915, Weller was the largest art pottery in the world with more than forty salesmen, hundreds of workers, and twenty-five kilns (Kovel and Kovel 1993:244). The art pottery line ended with the death of Samuel Weller in 1925, and all pottery production was discontinued in 1948.
(Kovel, Ralph and Terry Kovel, 1993. Kovels’ American Art Pottery: The Collector’s Guide to Makers, Marks and Factory Histories. New York: Crown Publishers.)