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2/2/2006

Art & Tradition

The Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach

Design at Wedgwood in the Twentieth Century

Curated by Museum Director Harold B. Nelson.

Long Beach, CA - The Long Beach Museum of Art presents Art & Tradition: Design at Wedgwood in the Twentieth Century in connection with a meeting of the Wedgwood International Seminar in Long Beach in March 2006. This exhibition explores innovative design at Wedgwood in the 20th century and features approximately 70 works designed by a variety of extraordinary artists at Wedgwood over the past 100 years. Presented in Long Beach from February 3 to August 6, 2006, Art & Tradition is curated by Museum Director Harold B. Nelson.

Among the designers featured in Art & Tradition are prominent early twentieth-century artists Alfred and Louise Powell and Daisy Makeig-Jones, along with artists who worked during Wedgwood's golden age of design in the 1930s and 1940s - including Millicent Taplin, Victor Skellern, Keith Murray, Norman Wilson - plus Eric Ravilious, John Skeaping, Eduardo Paolozzi and Glenys Barton, who was Wedgwood's artist-in-residence in 1976-1977. Each artist is represented by between five and ten works, which are on loan to Art & Traditon from over ten Southern California collections.

Planned as a follow-up to the Museum's highly successful 2001 exhibition Imps on a Bridge: Wedgwood Fairyland and Other Lustres, Art & Tradition is accompanied by an illustrated publication with an essay on twentieth-century design at Wedgwood by Robert Wedgwood.

Art & Tradition is made possible through the support of the following individuals and organizations: The Wedgwood Society of Southern California; Mike Smith; The Wedgwood Society of Washington, D.C.; Skinner, Inc.; Alan V. and Adele I. Barnett and other generous contributors.

Some Featured Artist Biographies:

Alfred Powell (1865 - 1960)
Trained as an architect, Alfred Powell was an exceptionally versatile artist, skilled in various artistic disciplines including painting and ceramics as well as furniture and architectural design. A leading figure in the British Arts & Crafts movement, he is best known for his simple ornamental ware inspired by traditional ceramic forms.

Often they are decorated with natural subjects such as leaves, flowers and plants. Powell presented his first designs to Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd. in 1903 and, together with his wife Louise Powell, reinvigorated hand-painting traditions at Wedgwood over the next several decades.

Daisy Makeig-Jones (1881 - 1945)
Trained at the School of Art in Torquay on the Devonshire coast of England, Daisy Makeig-Jones began her career painting and decorating vessels as a "paintress" at Wedgwood in 1909. From these humble origins, she quickly rose to become one of the most inventive designers ever to work at Wedgwood. Among Makeig-Jones's most imaginative work were her "Fairyland" designs based on her interpretations of popular myths, fairytales and legends. The imps, firbolgs, pixies and demons which cavort across the surface of her vessels were painted in startlingly bright colors and luster glazes. Makeig-Jones's "Fairyland" designs were immensely popular from about 1916 to 1930.

Louise Powell (1882 - 1956)
The introduction of transfer-printed decorative techniques to the British ceramics industry in the late 18th century caused a dramatic decline in hand-painting traditions in the 19th century. The husband and wife team of Alfred and Louise Powell - leading figures in the British Arts & Crafts movement - reversed this trend. The Powells are considered largely responsible for the revitalization of hand-decorating techniques at Wedgwood. Born into a prominent family of French artists, Louise Lessore studied painting and calligraphy at the Central School of Art in London. She married Alfred Powell, a prominent leader in the British Arts & Crafts movement, in 1906 and for the next several decades they worked together on ceramic designs for Wedgwood. While their designs are closely related, Louise Powell's are typically more abstract and calligraphic while Alfred's were typically naturalistic and descriptive.

Keith Murray (1892 - 1981)
Best-known for his spare, modernist forms, Keith Murray was born in New Zealand and studied architecture from 1919 to 1921 at the Architectural Association School in London. He taught and practiced architecture for the next decade. In the early 1930s, influenced by the simple shapes and designs of contemporary Scandinavian glass and ceramics, Murray began designing glass ware. Quickly gaining prominence as an innovative designer, Murray was approached in 1932 by Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Ltd. to design new shapes for the company. Murray's simple, sculptural forms for Wedgwood emphasized mass, shape and volume over surface decoration. However, a wide range of glaze colors give his work its subtle variety. In the late 1930s, Murray resumed his architectural practice and was engaged to design the new Wedgwood factory in Barlaston, which opened in 1940.

John Skeaping (1901 - 1980)
Produced in a variety of colors, John Skeaping's animal figures immediately gained widespread appeal when first introduced by Wedgwood in 1927. Depicting a variety of wild animals from diverse regions of the earth including Africa, the Americas and the Polar regions, these figures combined stylized elements with representational imagery. Skeaping, like many of the other designers who worked for Wedgwood in the 20th century, was classically trained as an artist. He studied at the Blackheath School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools in London. In 1924 he won the prestigious Prix de Rome, where he learned stone-carving techniques. Married for a brief period (1924 - 1933) to the prominent British sculptor Barbara Hepworth, John Skeaping brought a modernist sensibility to his figure studies at Wedgwood.

Millicent Taplin (1902 - 1980)
Trained at the Stoke School of Art, Millicent Taplin began her career as a "trainee paintress," or hand-painter at Green & Company, a small ceramics manufacturer in Fenton, Staffordshire. In 1917, she secured a position at Wedgwood and within two years she was hand-painting vases based on the designs of Alfred and Louise Powell. Hand-painted ornamental ware became so popular and commercially successful that in 1926 Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd. established a Handcraft Studio and put Millicent Taplin in charge.

Norman Wilson (1902 - 1985)
As independently-produced studio pottery became increasingly popular in the 20th century, Wedgwood produced a unique ornamental ware under the direction of Works Manager Norman Wilson entitled "Norman Wilson Unique Ware." Using inventive forms and experimental glazes often derived from Chinese and Japanese prototypes, Wilson explored a whole new territory for Wedgwood. Coming from a long line of china manufacturers, Norman Wilson was educated at Ellesmere College and North Staffordshire Technical College. He was hired by Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Ltd. in 1927 to manage the factory. He was Production Director at Wedgwood from 1946 to 1961and Joint Managing Director with Maitland Wright from 1961 until his retirement. A committed innovator, Wilson played a central role in modernizing Wedgwood and guiding it through a great period of growth and expansion in the mid-20th century.

Eric William Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
While Keith Murray's ceramic designs emphasize mass and volume, Eric Ravilious was more interested in surface design and pictorial narrative. His admiration for British watercolor and printmaking traditions is evident in the highly inventive graphic designs he produced for both ornamental and functional ware. Among the most original designers working at Wedgwood in the 1930s, Eric Ravilious studied at the Eastbourne School of Art in Sussex and the Design School of the Royal College of Art in London. Among his fellow students at the College was the preeminent British sculptor Henry Moore. Ravilious began designing for Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd. about 1936. Steeped in the traditions of wood block engraving, Ravilious transferred his admiration for the printed image to the surface of the vessel in his work for Wedgwood. Sadly, Ravilous' life was cut short by his death in World War II.

Victor Skellern (1909 - 1966)
Victor Skellern served as Art Director at Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd. from 1934 to 1965. Trained as an artist at the Burslem and Hanley Schools of Art and the Royal College of Art, Skellern, like Eric Ravilious, was particularly well versed in British printmaking traditions. Skellern's training as a printmaker led to the introduction of lithographic decoration at Wedgwood. His numerous contacts from art school with artists such as Clare Leighton, Dame Laura Knight, Eric Bawden, Eric Ravilious and others enabled him to bring talented designers to Wedgwood during his years as art director.

Eduardo Paolozzi (1924 - 2005)
In 1971, the prominent British artist Eduardo Paolozzi designed Variations on a Geometric Theme - a series of six plates with abstract, geometric decoration - for Wedgwood. The series was produced in a limited edition of 200. Born in Edinburgh, Eduardo Paolozzi was the son of Italian immigrants. After studying art at Edinburgh College and the Slade Art School at Oxford, Paolozzi became one of the leading figures in twentieth-century British art. Best known for his abstract compositions in which geometric forms bounce off one another in optically-charged patterns, Paolozzi was among the leading figures in the British Op and Pop movements.

Glenys Barton (Born 1949)
Considered among the leading artists working in England today, Glenys Barton is best known for her hauntingly poetic figurative sculpture. A Staffordshire native, Barton studied at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1976 she was invited to become an artist in residence at Wedgwood, where she produced a series of plaques and figures in bone china and black basalt based on her figurative studies.

Join us for these public programs: Wedgwood Tea & Tour, Tuesday through Friday, February 3 - August 6, 2 p.m. & 3 p.m. Discover the essence of olde England and the birthplace of Wedgwood with a guided tour of Art & Tradition, followed by high tea at Claire's at the Museum. $21 per person, reservations required by calling 562.439.2119 ext. 228.

Creativity Lab for Families: Mad Hatter hat making party. Sunday, February 12 2 - 4 p.m., Boeing Classroom, free with admission. Spend an afternoon making wildly creative hats fit for the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

Docent Spotlight Talk. Sunday, April 2, 2 p.m., Free with admission. An in-depth look at current exhibition Art & Tradition: Design at Wedgwood in the Twentieth Century.

Opening: February 3

The Long Beach Museum of Art
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