art pottery

In the second half of the nineteenth century with the arts and crafts movement people like William Morris and John Ruskin were promoting individualistic crafts and rebelling against the increasing industrialisation of the decorative market.

The artistic flare of one person or a group of like minded people was being displaced by mass production techniques and so the rights of true craftsmen were being removed by the onslaught of the scales of industry. In other words the artisan was being swallowed up by the machine.

The art pottery movement was a part of this and at its beginning the idea was that small potteries be started producing interesting and individualistic wares at affordable prices. These ideas first took on in London where the De Morgan pottery was producing designs often based on early Islamic and Moorish styles.

The use of lustre and strong colours was widespread and the combination of east meets west was very attractive. The Martin Brothers at this time were producing some quite different wares. Famous for their distinctive and often grotesque models of birds they also produced decorative useful wares with interesting design incorporated in the modelling and glazing.

Some wonderfully colourful glazes were invented with some fantastic and sometimes strange shapes being made. Many pieces were designed by Dr. Christopher Dresser who perhaps had ideals a little different from Morris as he believed that industrial techniques were well suited to creating imaginative and unusual designs at prices that could be afforded by many.

Any way the differences appear to have mixed well enough and in 1879 Dresser, together with John Harrison, started the Linthorpe Pottery in Middlesbrough producing some interesting pieces until Harrison died in 1889 and the pottery closed. Henry Tooth ran the pottery until 1882 when he left to start the Bretby pottery with William Ault where quite similar wares were made to those of Linthorpe though the quality was not quite so good. In 1887 Ault left Bretby to start the Ault pottery at Swadlincote in Derbyshire.

Here again similar pieces were being produced including some designs by Christopher Dresser until in 1919 when it merged with the Ashby potters Guild a company started by Pascoe Tuniclffe in the late 19th Century producing some fine wares with coloured glazes. Another pottery linked to Linthorpe was Burmantofts.

When the Linthorpe pottery closed many of the workers found employment here. The pottery had been set up some years earlier and for a short period through the 1880s produced art pottery later in the decade merging with other local companies to form the Leeds Fireclay Company.

In Devon a number of potteries were making art pottery in the Torquay area such as Aller Vale, Longpark and Watcombe. The Watcombe Pottery is also thought to have produced some designs by Dr. Christopher Dresser however there is no proof though many attributions have been made on stylistic grounds. In North Devon C. H. Brannam was producing some fine works which were being sold in London and enjoyed Royal patronage.

Also in the Barnstable area was the Baron pottery. William Leonard Baron who had previously worked for Doulton and Brannam, where he produced many of their best designs, decided to set up on his own near to the Brannam pottery and great competition ensued. He even put signs up to direct tourists away from Brannam to his pottery and paid tour guides to do the same. Despite this the Brannam pottery is still going strong today having merged with the Baron pottery in the 1930s after the death of William Leonard Baron.

In Scotland a number of potteries were set up including Wemyss, Methvens and Dunmore. The Wemyss pottery, named after a local castle, used continental styles of painting as did the nearby Methvens pottery whereas at Dunmore shapes and glazes were more important.

In Wales the Ewenny pottery near Bridgend produced charicterful wares often baring mottos in Welsh. The Jenkins family have been potting in the Ewenny area since early in the nineteenth century and remain there right up to the present day. The wares produced were of a traditional nature being mostly useful though ornamental pieces were produced and the whole pottery tradition around Ewenny fitted in very well with the Arts and Crafts movement. At Llanelli wares were made in the continental style, some pieces looking quite similar to Wemyss wares, the Cockerel plates are among the most famous and can fetch hundreds of pounds each.

Shropshire was home to several potteries producing art pottery. Craven Dunnill produced some wares but are mainly known for their tiles. Maw & Co. also known for tile manufacture later produced high quality decorative wares with designs by Walter Crane and Lewis Day and the Salopian Art Pottery produced some excellent wares around the turn of the century.

Notable for his work on glazes is William Howson Taylor who had studied at the Birmingham School of Art. He set up the Ruskin pottery there where much of his time went into experimentation on glazes with dramatic results. Whilst his early wares were generally of one predominant colour later high fired wares were often strongly contrasting with reds mixed with white and black.

Mottled wares of many different colours were produced as well as pieces with crystalline and textured glazes. Shapes were usually based on Chinese style though as well as bowls and vases he produced insets for jewellery and buttons etc. Over all some very beautiful pieces were made sadly the recipes for the glazes remain a secret as Howson Taylor wanted his wares to remain unique so when he died he took the secrets with him.

The Pilkington Lancastrian pottery is also worthy of mention for the work done there with lustre decoration and opalescent glazes. It was run by two brothers, William and Joseph Burton, who were ceramic chemists. Initially the pottery was called Pilkington Tile and Pottery Co. and was set up to make tiles but in 1887 the production of ornamental wares commenced and in 1903 the opalescent glaze was introduced and wares became known as Lancastrian pottery.

In the early years of the twentieth century artists were employed to decorate the wares with lustre and some wonderfully artistic and complex designs were created often bearing the initials of the artist or artists responsible.

The art pottery movement was not just popular in Britain but throughout Europe and in particular America where the Morris principle really caught the Imagination of the public. All sorts of styles were incorporated from wares with country pottery traditions right through to highly technical wares produced after much experimentation and investment. Major manufacturers were quick to cash in on the idea with many getting involved.

Minton produced designs by eminent designers including Dr. Dresser and opened an art pottery studio in London though they found that it was not a financial success and it closed a short while after when a fire destroyed the premises. Doulton on the other hand used in-house designers with wares usually baring the initials of the artist.

They found great success with their stone wares and some of the artists such as Florence Barlow are now well known in their own right. Of course many major potteries also produced Majolica wares which are highly prized in today’s market especially those by George Jones and Minton with some pieces selling for thousands of pounds.