Majolica, Palissy, Royal Doulton and Other Art Pottery
Art Pottery can be seen as something of a catch all term when it comes to ceramics.
However, whilst a gross over simplification, it refers generally to pottery (though
can include porcelain) that is made for aesthetic or decorative purposes though
it may, of course, still retain its functional use. It includes vases, tiles, tea
and table wares and decorative figures. It was produced loosely from 1870 up until
the First World War.
A Doulton Lambeth tile panel for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair by Esther Lewis.
The fact that art pottery was produced both by smaller artisanal potters and the
larger factory concerns alike over a significant period of time means that
it can take many forms - from the brightly glazed majolica (not to be confused with
maiolica)
of George Jones, Minton and Joseph Holdcroft to the equally
bright but more naturalistic (and sometimes garish) Portuguese Palissy Ware.
A Minton majolica 'Chinaman' teapot, circa 1877.
Of the larger concerns, Minton deserves a mention for their partnership with the
government and London art schools to form the appropriately named Minton Art Pottery
Studios at Kensington Gore, but it was Doulton Lambeth/Royal Doulton
that was the powerhouse of English Art Pottery. Their list of top notch
potters and designers is extensive with modellers such as George Tinworth,
Mark V Marshall and Leslie Harradine; and decorator-designers
including Frank Butler, Charles Noke and a bevy of talented women
that included Hannah Barlow, Florence Barlow, Eliza Simmance
and Emily Stormer amongst them.
A Wileman & Co Pastello Ware vase designed by Frederick Rhead.
Staffordshire is equally well represented by the Rhead family (especially Charlotte
Rhead and her father Frederick Alfred Rhead) who produce very
fine tubelined tiles as well as thoroughly commercial but attractive vases and bowls.
There is Bernard Moore, greatly influenced by the Orient and a master
of glazing, and close by there was the Bretby Pottery.
A CH Brannam Barnstaple wall pocket by Thomas Liverton, circa 1903.
The West Country geology and clays favoured Art Pottery with CH Brannam's Barum
Pottery in Barnstaple and in the south of Devon the Torquay Potteries,
in Clevedon there was Sir Edmond Elton's Sunflower Pottery and across
the Bristol Channel the Ewenny Pottery. Heading east, there is of course
Poole Pottery. In London, there was Richard de Morgan, Essex boasted
Edward Bingham's Castle Hedingham Pottery; and further north William Howson
Taylor's Ruskin Pottery, which operated out of Smethwick. In Birkenhead,
there was the Della Robbia Pottery and Manchester boasted Pilkington's
Royal Lancastrian and further north still Leeds had their Burmantofts
concern and Middlesbrough had Linthorpe.
A Zsolnay Pecs Labrador Eosin vase, circa 1900.
The list may seem comprehensive, but really is just a hint of the rich and patterned
patchwork pottery heritage of England during the Art Pottery period and each one
has a story to tell in its own right.
For those of you that are wondering what has happened to the
Martin Brothers
and
Moorcroft,
they are an intentional omission that deserve a more fulsome mention elsewhere and,
of course, there is the question of other notable Continental makers such as Hungary's
Zsolnay Pecs and Czechoslovakia's Amphora, Austria's Goldscheider
and any number of admirable French concerns.
Related Ceramicists and Potters
Specialists
 | Nic Saintey Department Head
|  | Andrew Thomas Ceramics and Glass Expert
|