Art Deco Pottery
Anyone with the slightest knowledge of antiques cannot be unaware of Art Deco
and will have at least a passing idea of what it looked like in terms of the objects
it was responsible for producing.
It is broadly agreed that it spanned the years between the two World Wars, although
as always there were individuals that laid the foundations for the look and feel
of Art Deco. One has to take into account Picasso's Cubism, the striking
designs of Christopher Dresser that seemed well ahead of their time and
the establishment of the Wiener Werkstatte that integrated art and purposeful
design into household objects.
The movement was both American and European, but was perhaps centred on the 1925
Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes,
hence the shorthand 'Art Deco'. As the name suggests, a number of strings were drawn
together to create a total style that could incorporate art and design into the
grand and the everyday. Consider the Empire State building or indeed a humble piece
of ceramic – high art and low art co-existing comfortably together.
A Carlton Ware Mephistopheles pattern vase.
British tastes were not as adventurous as those on the Continent. Domestic Art Deco
ceramics, unlike that of the French (which was more elitist), were largely populist
- the type of thing one might buy in the High Street rather than the gallery. It
became a sort of British folk art for the machine age, although Art Deco did also
draw together eclectic strands from the neo classical, Asian and Egyptian spheres
– the latter stimulated by the opening of Tutankhamen tomb in 1922.
When considering ceramics,
Clarice Cliff
has primacy in most people minds, although the supporting cast is a strong and varied
one. Perhaps, in volume terms, Susie Cooper is foremost having produced
over 4,000 commercial designs for Grays. Initially favouring bright and
often abstract hand-painted, she switched to lithographed decoration with little
or no loss of appeal. The kestrel shaped tea and tableware being her 'signature
dish'.
A Shelley Regent shaped coffee service, circa 1933.
Close on her heels in volume terms must be Shelley. Whilst Shelley produced
some painted wares, primarily the Harmony Dripware, it too favoured printed
decoration, but perhaps reflected what a broad church Art Deco was. Using everything
from the Geometric to the popular Tall Trees and Sunshine,
Yellow Butterfly or Crocus (wonder where they got that idea from)
in trendy sounding shapes like Vogue and Mode and the not so trendy
Queen Anne. Also with help from Mabel Lucie Attwell, they produced
a range of playful Boo Boo nursery figures – though I suspect grown
ups bought and kept most of them.
A Charlotte Rhead for Crown Ducal Persian Rose pattern vase.
Charlotte Rhead came from a dynasty of potters, illustrators and designers
and worked variously for Wood & Sons, Bursley Ltd, Burgess
& Leigh, especially AG Richardson on their Crown Ducal
range specialising in tubelined work, initially on tiles and then latterly on bowls,
plates and jugs with a bias towards flowers, fruit and foliage often with an eastern
feel to them. Meantime, Wiltshaw & Robinson's Carlton Ware certainly
took the Egyptian and the fabulous facet of Art Deco to heart and coupled it with
very sophisticated lithographs, sumptuous colouring and gilding to very luxurious
effect.
Meanwhile, most of the established mainstream concerns also dipped their toes in
the Art Deco water. Royal Doulton produced a number of figures and
some limited tableware. Wedgwood employed Keith Murray to produce
his rather austere, but attractive monochrome annular wares, but Art Deco seems
largely to have passed by Royal Worcester as a decorative concern.
A Fieldings Crown Devon figure, circa 1935.
Other smaller manufactories included Fieldings Crown Devon who produced
some pretty figures and figural lamps and Poole Pottery, although their
pastel coloured floral designs seem a little too traditional to me.
Of course, a number of Continental factories produced top notch arty Art Deco, but
not of the day to day proletariat type favoured by the British, although perhaps
a special mention should be made for the delightful Robj figures.
A French Art Deco figural decanter from Robj.
Specialists
 | Nic Saintey Department Head
|  | Andrew Thomas Ceramics and Glass Expert
|
Art Deco Ceramicists and Potters