American art pottery

also: art pottery · American Art Pottery

movement c. 1870-1950s United States

American art pottery is the distinctly American tradition of hand-made, aesthetically ambitious earthenware and stoneware produced from the 1870s into the 1950s by some two hundred studios and small factories. Ranging from tall vases to tiles, it is marked by original design, simplified shapes and restless glaze experiment - matte greens, iridescent lusters, crackle glazes - with decoration that moved from Victorian naturalism toward the graphic and abstract languages of Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Major centers clustered in Ohio (Rookwood, Weller, Roseville, Cowan) and Massachusetts (Grueby, Marblehead, Dedham), with outposts like Newcomb in New Orleans and Pewabic in Detroit. Maria Longworth Nichols Storer's Rookwood (Cincinnati, 1880) set the standard, and Adelaïde Alsop Robineau's Scarab Vase remains the movement's masterpiece.

Exhibit in the De Young Museum, San Francisco, California, USA. This artwork is in the public domain because the artist died more than 70 ye
Exhibit in the De Young Museum, San Francisco, California, USA. This artwork is in the public domain because the artist died more than 70 yeCC0 (credit: Daderot) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Experimental matte, luster and crackle glazes as the signature surface
  • Simplified, often architectonic vessel shapes over Victorian ornament
  • Incised, slip-trailed and low-relief decoration as well as painted design
  • Motifs moving from naturalistic flowers and animals to stylized and abstract pattern
  • Studio marks and individual artist decorators on each piece

Key figures

  • Maria Longworth Nichols Storer (1849-1932) — Founded Rookwood Pottery (1880), the movement's flagship studio
  • Adelaïde Alsop Robineau (1865-1929) — Independent ceramic artist; her Scarab Vase is the masterpiece of the field
  • Frederick Hurten Rhead (1880-1942) — English-born potter and designer who shaped several American potteries
  • Mary Chase Perry Stratton (1867-1961) — Co-founded Pewabic Pottery (1903), famed for iridescent glazes

Example works

  • Scarab Vase — Adelaïde Alsop Robineau (1910)
  • Vase decorated with iris — Artus Van Briggle (Van Briggle Pottery) (c. 1903)
  • Glazed earthenware vase — Newcomb Pottery (decorated by Sadie Irvine) (c. 1910)

Sources

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