Art Deco and Modernist Ceramics
Reviewed by Jim Sweeney
One of the most encouraging bits of information in Art Deco and Modernist Ceramics by Karen McCready (Thames & Hudson) is that many fine and historically important ceramic pieces from 1919-39 aren't yet in museums or major private collections. In other words, there's still a chance you can get your hands on some of what's depicted here.
The book includes a 55-page list of ceramists, designers, and factories, with more than 240 entries. It also has an 85-page section of color plates, with more than 200 illustrations divided by country/region (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Russia, Czechoslovakia, England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Italy, the U.S., and Japan). It's a good overview/reference work, with excellent photos.
McCready uses a broad definition of Art Deco, arguing that "the style encompasses so many diverse aspects that it is not easy to sum up, except to say that one knows it definitively when one sees it." As the book's illustrations prove, there's great variation in what was produced in this era. Partly this is due to the contradictory influences and themes in Art Deco, such as purism vs. ornamentation.
The book doesn't include decorative architectural ceramics, but McCready notes their significance as decorative art in the Deco era. Especially in the United States, terra-cotta buildings provided an opportunity for spectacular ornament.
Ceramics in the Deco era are a little different from ceramics in most other eras, the author argues. "Although seminal ideas have rarely originated in ceramics, some of these objects speak with as much authority as some of the sculpture and architecture of the interwar era." "Quite possibly," she adds, "this was the one time in the history of ceramics that genuinely avant-garde work was produced."
In a chapter providing an overview of the Art Deco era, ceramics historian Garth Clark agrees. He summarizes the period as "unparalleled in terms of the collaborative energy between ceramics and the fine arts."
This is especially noteworthy because ceramics, unlike many other decorative arts in that era, were not the beneficiaries of new technologies and materials. Ceramics involved centuries-old processes and materials.
Also, the forms of functional objects such as teapots have been nearly unchanged for centuries. The only thing that had changed was the designer's approach, Clark says: "Most ceramics forms had been perfected by the time of the Bauhaus, hence all the designers could do was strip pottery of its ornament and offer a new style that was more pared down and fundamentalist in appearance."
The book includes not only unique works and those produced by known designers but also mass-produced works. Unlike mass-produced works from most other periods, mass-produced Art Deco ceramics often featured very radical designs. The exact opposite is the case today, McCready says. Current mass-production techniques, in which ceramics are machine-molded, limit production to simple shapes. Tooling up to produce a new design is very expensive, so there's no incentive for risk taking.
The photos demonstrate the points McCready and Clark make. A German vase from the 1920s/1930s has a fairly conventional shape. But it's covered with airbrushed geometric abstract forms, a common decorative element in the Weimar Republic period.
In other instances, bold design was matched with bold decoration. A 1930 English tea set from Shelley Potteries has a bright, angular stylized sunburst decoration. The handles are triangular, as is the teapot spout. Similarly, a French vase from the late 1920s features an angular body and Cubist decoration.
At other times, the design is the decoration. That's the case with the "Deco Delight" tea service produced by Fulper Pottery in 1928-29, with sharp angles and deeply incised lines. Or the "Circle Vase" done by Trenton Potteries in the 1930s, which is a simple white vase resembling three concentric circles.
This article originally appeared in Trans-Lux volume 15, number 1, May 1997.
Where to Find the Book
You can find Art Deco and Modernist Ceramics in local bookstores or purchase it on-line in hardcover or paperback at a discount from Amazon.com Books.ADSW offers this book in association with Amazon.com Books and receives a small commission on sales referred to them.
Comments
Created Sunday, July 19, 1998; Modified Thursday, September 18, 2003.
