CHAPTER XII

MODERN AMERICAN POTTERY

One of the most encouraging signs of the advance in taste among American people is to be found in their appreciation of the pottery which is now being made in this country. Time was when majolica jardinières and Austrian china, with their high colours and glassy glazes, were things to be desired. Happily, they are going the way of plush-covered “suites” of furniture and crazy-quilts.

Much of the simplicity of method and design in American pottery comes from the study of primitive processes, shapes, and decorations. Indian ware, though of less value than some others to the student of ceramics, on account of its softness of body and unglazed surface, is nevertheless full of artistic feeling and suggestion to makers of pottery. There are many evidences also of French and Japanese influence.

In various parts of the country, true art pottery is being made—each ware with its own individuality and more or less characteristic of the section of the country from whence it comes. As yet but little tableware has been attempted at these potteries—the Dedham being almost the only one where it is made.

Modern pottery is either moulded by hand, thrown on the potter’s wheel, or cast in moulds. After it has been formed, it is generally decorated, either by the artist-potter himself or by some young man or woman who has learned design as applied to pottery. The decoration is either painted with colours which have been mixed with clays, like some of the Rookwood ware, or incised, modelled in relief, or built up, as the Volkmar pottery.

After it is quite dry, the pot is fired in the great kiln, this time without glazing, or in the biscuit. It is then glazed, and fired for the second time.

The philosophical potter—and every potter needs philosophy—will not despair if, in the second firing, the piece is not satisfactory. He glazes it again, with every care, in time for the next firing, and is often rewarded by having this ugly duckling of one kiln turn out the swan of the next.

Among the pioneers of art pottery in this country was Mrs. Maria Longworth Storer, a Cincinnati woman, who in 1880 opened a pottery called by the name of her father’s place, Rookwood. Mrs. Storer had, in addition to an artistic temperament, the patience and determination, as well as the financial resources, necessary to such an undertaking. The first kiln of the new pottery was drawn on Thanksgiving Day. By 1889, the pottery had become self-supporting. Rookwood has always been a distinctively American pottery. From the first, native clays were used, and their possibilities were discovered with the firing of each new kiln. Clays that fire at a comparatively low heat were used at first, and this necessitated employing the soft glazes. Later, the yellow, or Rockingham, ware formed the body of the pieces, and now a creamy-white body is used, which produces a strong and beautiful pottery. This is finished with a mat-glaze. At first, the tint of the native clay inclined the colour scheme to warm browns, yellows, and reds. This ware was decorated with flower or figure designs under a brilliant glaze. It is known as Standard Rookwood. The Tiger Eye and Goldstone are other wares with glaze effects not unlike the Standard Rookwood. Both of these have dark grounds with an occasional luminous gleam of gold—one of the interesting accidents of the kiln. Other varieties of Rookwood, in the order of their development, were Sea Green, in which an opalescent green effect is sometimes relieved with a touch of yellow or red, and Iris, which has the creamy-white body already referred to. This enables the potter to produce gray tones in his glazes. In Rookwood, which is coated with the flowing glaze, there is a quality not unlike some of the old Chinese wares. It has a richness of texture luminous and beautiful. The decorations are painted in relief, so simply that the glaze flows charmingly over them. There is also a variety of the Rookwood pottery with a mat-glaze. In this, the process is entirely different from that used in making the other kinds of Rookwood. The glaze is of the greatest importance, the forms are simple, sometimes almost rugged, and the decorations are subordinate. There are even pieces entirely undecorated, which depend upon their beauty of colour and texture alone. Decorations adapted from Indian designs are often modelled in relief or incised. Occasionally, metals are applied. Mantels, wall-panels, drinking-fountains, and architectural reliefs are also made of the Rookwood faience.

Many are the potters’ marks that have been used at Rookwood. Before 1886 there were eight in all. At that time, the mark shown in Fig. 66 was adopted. This was used, with the addition of a flame mark for every succeeding year, until 1900, when the mark was like Fig. 67. Since that date, a Roman numeral has been added below the mark, according to the year the piece was made. For example, the pieces of the present year have the Roman number IV. below the mark used in 1900.

A comparatively near neighbour of Rookwood is the Gates pottery, near Chicago, where Teco ware is made. The potter’s love for his work, and the potter’s zeal to produce something more perfect and beautiful than he had ever done before, led William D. Gates, who had long made terra cotta for architectural purposes, to experiment with clays and glazes until finally Teco ware was evolved. It is a hard, durable pottery built on simple lines. Western artists and architects of note have contributed designs and forms for this ware, and, for the most part, the pieces are beautiful and restful to the eye. The few incised or moulded decorations are not made prominent, but are suggested rather than sharply defined. Over all is a mat-glaze of soft, wax-like texture in green—the green that makes one think of weathered bronze.

Set in a picturesque valley, surrounded by flowers, and near a little lake, the Gates potteries are so situated as to inspire the artist potters who mould the forms and decorate the ware. It has been the aim of the makers of Teco pottery to produce a ware that shall be satisfying and beautiful, and yet of comparatively slight cost.

It is a far journey from these potteries to the three New England cities where are the Grueby, Dedham, and Merrimac potteries. Grueby ware, which was first made in Boston in 1898, is remarkable for the glaze, which was discovered by Mr. William H. Grueby. Although, for many years, dull-finished pottery has been produced by sand-blasting ware with a glossy finish, or by taking a piece of glazed pottery and treating it with acid, to make it dull, the Grueby potteries were the first in the history of ceramics to make a dull-finished pottery in their kilns. The surface thus obtained has a deep, velvety look, unlike any other finish made—such as that which was possessed by old Corean pottery. The ware was first exhibited in Paris, in 1900, where it made quite a sensation, and the French Government awarded the Grueby Potteries a gold medal for enamels and glazes, as well as a silver medal for design, and gave Mr. Grueby personally a gold medal for the work he had accomplished in dull-finished enamels. The forms are simple and good, and the decorations, which are incised or modelled in relief, are planned so that the glaze shall flow well over them. Common plant forms, such as the mullein leaf, blades of grass, plantain, and the enfolding leaves of the lily, are the motives for these designs. There is a delicacy—one might almost say a reserve—in their treatment that is rare and very interesting. The pottery is hard, and the glaze such as is applicable to a ware which fires at a great heat. The colours of Grueby pottery are beautiful and rich, ranging from an old ivory tint to golden yellows, russet browns, and velvety blues and a variety of green shades. The texture of the glaze is soft, like the bloom of a melon, and it has an unusual network of markings. No moulds are used in making this pottery; it is all thrown on the wheel, and, as in the old wares, no two pieces are exactly alike.

Besides its beauty and artistic value, the fact that the Grueby pottery is made in forms that are useful makes it doubly desirable. Among lamp-jars, particularly, there is the greatest variety. These are made both for oil and electricity. In the Grueby-Tiffany lamp, two charming products of applied arts are combined—the jar being Grueby ware, and the leaded or blown-glass shade of Tiffany design and workmanship.

The Dedham pottery is remarkable for many reasons, chief among them being the fact that it is, as already stated, almost the only place in this country where art tableware is made. Some of this ware, which is popularly known as the Bunny china, has lifelike little rabbits on the border, other pieces have designs of ducks, and others still have borders of fruit. The wonderful Oriental glazes that are used on pieces of Dedham ware were re-discovered by Mr. Hugh C. Robertson. The best-known glaze of this pottery, however, is the gray crackle-ware with designs of blue.

At the Merrimac pottery, in Newburyport, an excellent ware is made. A few of the pieces are moulded, but the majority are thrown on the potter’s wheel. Little decoration is used, the charm of the ware being its form and colour.

Among the most remarkable of the artist potters of this country is Mr. Charles Volkmar, of the Volkmar Kilns, in Metuchen, New Jersey. An artist to his finger-tips, he has a potter’s thumb which is the envy of all those who were less evidently born to the craft. Mr. Volkmar studied not only art, but his craft as well, in Paris, wearing the blouse of a workman in the potteries, where he learned so admirably how to work in clay that there are few in this country who approach him. The ware made by Mr. Volkmar and his son, Mr. Leon Volkmar, is remarkable for the simple beauty of its forms and for the quality of its glazes. The body of the ware is pale yellow, and it is exceedingly hard and durable. Years ago, Mr. Volkmar made a fine blue-and-white ware, which was decorated with historical scenes. His pieces now are for the most part finished with a mat-glaze, although some have a glossy transparent surface. All are beautiful in colour. Here is where the artist shows preeminently. The deep, rich texture of the mat-glaze softens, but does not hide, the simple incised or built-up designs. The pierced designs of Volkmar pottery are decorative and strong. This ware is as practical to use as it is charming to look at. The flower-jars are in tones that harmonise delightfully with the blossoms that fill them, and the jugs have flowing and graceful lines, and yet are substantial and of generous proportions. The plate shows a few pieces of this ware. The piece on the left is a pale yellowish-brown, with a glossy finish; this is suitable for a lamp-bowl or for flowers. Beside it is a sturdy little mug, with a deep green mat-glaze. The next jar is finished with a dull blue transparent glaze, and the taller vase-shaped piece on the right has a mat-glaze of pale gray-green. Not far from the Volkmar Kilns, at Woodbridge, New Jersey, is the Poillon pottery, where garden ware is made. Great tree- and plant-tubs, sun-dial stands, well-curbs, and window-ledge boxes are a few of the things that come from this pottery. The forms of these pieces are substantial and good. Some excellent indoor pottery is also moulded—candlesticks, toilet sets, jugs, and flower-bowls—a host of useful and attractive shapes, coated with a flowing glaze. The ware is finished in a variety of colours, yellow being one of the most successful. The Poillon potteries have designed special earthenware for country clubs—lamps, toilet sets, ashtrays, match-bowls; all uniform in colour and design, and each specially adapted in form to the use for which it is intended.

The work of the Brush Guild of New York is more like Indian pottery than any other of the American wares. The pieces all have a hand-moulded look, and the few designs are quite primitive in their simplicity. The glossy-black finish suggests Indian smother-firing. It is not unlike the black pottery which the Santa Clara Indians make, and the great generous pieces are also suggestive of this ware. Unlike any Indian pottery, however, the bowls and jars of the Brush Guild will hold water perfectly.

From the far South comes an exceedingly interesting ware: this is the Newcomb pottery, made by the students of Newcomb College, New Orleans. It may be seen at exhibitions of arts and crafts guilds here in the North. The ware originated in the art department of Newcomb College. Here, for years, teachers of drawing and painting had been educated, but it began to be manifest that, with the lack of other fields for art workers, this department could not be widely useful. The establishment of a pottery was the practical solution of this difficulty. Many young women have found, in the making of this pottery, an artistic vocation from which they reap profit and reputation. The aim of the originators from the first has been to make a ware that would be individual—one that should have a charm all its own. This has been accomplished by taking as motives for the designs the unusual and beautiful Southern flowers, plants, and trees, as well as the animal life of that part of the country. A charming pitcher has a design of snow-drops, painted in cream-white slip on a yellow-gray background. Another piece has a decoration of fishes, and on still another, a high, slender flower-jar, stalks of the sugar-cane form the design.

The methods of decoration are incising, painting, and modelling, used together or singly, according to the requirements of the design. Great freedom is allowed in the choice of colour as well as in the decoration, each worker feeling the responsibility attached to a signed piece of pottery. Some of the ware is undecorated save for the unexpected touches of the kiln, which give charming and unusual effects.

The mark shown in Fig. 68 distinguishes the Newcomb pottery, and only those pieces receive it which are approved by the art department.

Individual work of merit is being produced every year in this country, and it will not be long before the solitary potter of to-day, moulding his pieces and testing his glazes in some little workshop, like a brown chrysalis, will perfect his ware; so that the tiny workshop will expand into a great building, and another beautiful ware will be added to modern American pottery.