Rookwood Project

Pottery was a thriving industry in Cincinnati during the late 19^th and early 20^th century. One company was able to achieve international acclaim by employing both unique artistic techniques and inventive marketing. The art was pushed to new levels through competition. It was a company where men and women were able to work together, and set themselves apart as artists.

            Rookwood Pottery Company emptied its first kiln on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1880. It was not long before the business became an international contender in the arena of art pottery. However, when Maria Longworth Nichols opened the pottery there was little reason to expect it would survive very long. Nichols knew little about pottery production or marketing and had no experience in business or managing employees (Trap 11). At the time, she had only one year of serious experience decorating pottery as a guest in Granite factory. Nevertheless, Nichols had been awed by the ceramics and Japanese arts at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. It was at this point that she became determined to have a pottery of her own. Nichols was privileged enough to come from a wealthy family who fully funded her endeavor. This meant Rookwood could pay for its mistakes, and had time to establish itself.

            A key part in the emersion of Rookwood Pottery was the rivalry between Nichols and M. Louise McLaughlin. According to the Cincinnati Museum of Art, these “Dueling Divas” were the most important figures in the history of American ceramics in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. They competed in china painting in Cincinnati. The two were equally successful until in 1877 when McLaughlin wrote the first self-help book on china painting in America, China Painting: A Practical Manuel for the Use of Amateurs in the Decoration of Hard Porcelain. The manual was wildly successful and launched a ceramics movement led by women.

            McLaughlin came from a similar, wealthy background to her rival, Nichols. She had wanted to become an artist from an early age, and although McLaughlin worked in many media of art, her greatest recognition is in ceramics. The competition between McLaughlin and Nichols originated with painting teacups. In May of 1875, each woman painted teacups and saucers to be auctioned off at the Cincinnati Centennial Tea Party. The event was organized to help fund the exhibition of artwork by Cincinnati women in the nation’s Centennial Exhibition to be held in Philadelphia the following year. At this point there work was viewed equally. McLaughlin tended to paint portraits, while Nichols’ paintings were in the style of children’s storybooks.

            McLaughlin then developed a distinctive glaze technique in 1878 in which the decoration is applied under the glaze instead of over. She was the first in America to do so, and received acclaim from New York and Paris. The technique was known as Cincinnati Limoges. It made McLaughlin a seminal figure in the history of ceramics and is one reason why the history of American art pottery begins in Cincinnati (Ellis 9).

            In early August 1879, McLaughlin conceived the idea of making the largest vase in America with decoration under the glaze. It was a difficult process because colors used for decoration faded or “fired out” when fired in the kiln. After four unsuccessful attempts, three were created on February 8, 1880. Because of its large size, the vase was called the “Ali Baba Vase” after the jar that held the forty thieves in Arabian Nights. The vase was displayed at the Cincinnati Pottery Club’s first reception on May 5, 1880. It was reported that it was, “without question the finest piece of pottery with the finest decoration ever made in the country” (Cincinnati Museum of Art).

Nichols heard about her rival’s vase and was not to be out done. She rose to the challenge and created her “Aladdin Vase.” Nichols had pirated McLaughlin’s Cincinnati Limoges technique. Although the “Aladdin Vase” was seven inches shorter than the “Ali Baba Vase,” it is more than two inches wider. In pottery, tall vases are difficult to fire, but the real challenge is to increase diameter when throwing the vase. Nichols’ vase was called a “tour de force” (Cincinnati Museum of Art). It displays Nichols’ typical sketchy brush strokes and characteristic Japanese inspired dragon encircling form. Each competing diva of American ceramics received her just recognition, and made Cincinnati the “cradle of American Pottery.”

Motivated by success and pushed by competition, Nichols persuaded her father to lend her the funds to start Rookwood in a converted schoolhouse. She decided to continue using McLaughlin’s under-glaze slip decoration technique, and was one of only four potteries in the world that could achieve it.

Other than finances, Rookwood Pottery Company had a few other advantages. It was located in the “Queen City” of artistic ceramics. Nichols could hire experienced craftsmen from commercial potteries.  The School of Design of the University of Cincinnati, later renamed the Art Academy of Cincinnati, provided those trained in a combination of art and industry. Rookwood was founded as part of a movement that swept Cincinnati in the late 1870s that involved china painting and pottery decorating as primary art forms. Women like Nichols and McLaughlin, as well as amateurs who used local potteries as training grounds spearheaded the movement (Trap 12).

Furthermore, Rookwood’s choice of identity was important in establishing it as a valuable commodity. The pottery emerged at a time when the United States was rapidly changing. The economy had moved from agricultural to industrial, while populations were moving out of small towns and into industrialized cities (Owen 16). Some felt that authority was shifting to impersonal entities rather than individuals. Unskilled workers were creating more items in mass production. It “degraded workers into feeders of machines” (Owen 17). While commercial potteries employed machinery and produced their ware in molds, Rookwood remained hand thrown and advertised itself as one-of-a- kind, art objects. Nichols insisted on handcraftsmanship.

Nichols saw no spectacular results on a business level during her first year of business. This changed when she introduced Joseph S. Bailey as superintendent of Rookwood Pottery. He had many years of experience and empirical knowledge of clay and pottery production from Dallas Studio. He transformed Rookwood into a pottery of “international authority” (Trap 12).

During the first two years, the pottery had produced mostly utilitarian household objects and tableware. These simple designed, chaste formed pieces were hailed for making “inexpensive ware pretty,” but this is not what Nicholas had in mind when she founded Rookwood (Trap 13). She wanted original pieces that were uniquely created by artists, but this division of labor was only recently being considered by Cincinnati potteries.

Nichols looked to the School of Design. In September of 1881, nineteen-year-old Albert Robert Valentien was hired as the pottery’s first full-time decorator. Seven other decorators were hired in the following two years; all entered as amateurs. Because Nichols imposed no artistic dogma on her decorators, they were free to pursue their individual aesthetic (Trap 13). A variety of decorative styles and approaches resulted. Inexperienced decorators were able to develop a deliberate, decorative approach.

The artists received pre-fabricated forms and had to create decorating schemes that harmonized. Painterly colors were the wares greatest attraction. The under glaze gave an illusion of oil on canvas including vigorous, swirling brushstrokes. Because colors are dramatically altered in the kiln, it was difficult for successful execution. It took time to master pallets and predict final transformations, but they mastered a full spectrum of colors. Appropriate decoration was dictated by firing temperature (Trap 13).

Many decorators hired by Nichols became well known, including: Laura Fry, Anna Marie Bookprinter, Mathew Andrew Daily, and William Purcell McDonald to name a few. Her first decorator, Robert Valentien achieved fame of his own. In 1905, he developed Rookwood’s most “salable line” (Ellis 9). He decorated Scenic Vellums where landscape scenes are painted under Vellum glaze. Vellum is a transparent mat glaze that gives a foggy, or mist quality to the decorations underneath. Valentien later wrote, “I was the first regularly employed decorator…and served the capacity of chief decorator for the period of 24 years during which time I originated and developed many of the chief effects which have made [Rookwood Pottery] famous throughout the world” (Doren 26).

Another notable decorator is Japanese artist, Kataro Shirayamadani who was hired by Nichols in 1887. Nichols had wanted a Japanese decorator since establishing Rookwood. In fact, she has toyed with the idea of importing an entire Japanese pottery because she was so infatuated with their artwork. Shirayamadani was a skilled porcelain painter, and a useful talent for Rookwood. His work was first shown at Piedmont Exposition in Atlanta in 1887. He brought an international stature to the pottery company (Trap 15). The decorator helped Rookwood capture a gold medal at the 1889 Universelle Exposition in Paris.

Nichols, a middle class woman who was never trained in the field of business, made the mission statement, “While my principal object is for my own gratification I hope to make the Pottery pay expenses” (Owen 2). Personal friend bought many of the pieces during her first years of business. Nevertheless, in a genius move, she hired William Watts Taylor as manager in June 1883. Taylor was an experienced cotton broker, cultured gentleman, and personal friend. He is known for guiding Rookwood in its first generation to artistic and technical preeminence in American ceramics (Trap 14).

One of his first orders of business in reforming Rookwood Pottery was to develop a system to record the shapes of production and types of decoration. The Rookwood Shape Record Book was a two hundred-page ledger where the smallest detail about the pottery was recorded. It is considered the most valuable single document of study of Rookwood from 1883 to 1900.

Taylor never made any changes to interfere with Nichol’s vision (Trap 15). For example, even though a single fire decorative process would increase production and cut cost, it was never seriously considered. Taylor also maintained Nichols’ division of labor and followed her marketing practices.

Taylor knew Rookwood’s aesthetic achievements mattered little without public exposure (Trap 17). He gave pieces to museums and cooperated with serious writers for public attention. Taylor also sent Rookwood to regional, national, and international expositions.  He advertised in magazines with national circulation, and turned the physical plant of Rookwood into a showroom for visitors. Taylor’s greatest contribution to Rookwood Pottery was his persistence in getting ceramics recognized as fine art. He had to fight at various fairs and exhibitions to make sure Rookwood Pottery was displayed in the fine-arts section rather than industrial displays. It was the only pottery exhibited at the Chicago Fair to be exhibited in the Art Palace (Owen 4).

Rookwood Pottery was entered into its first international competition was the Paris Exposition Univers0alle of 1889. It entered as a small enterprise American pottery competing in Europe where it had no established reputation, and only a modest reputation in their native land (Trap 18). Nevertheless Rookwood won the gold medal for its Tiger Eye and dark wares, as well as several others. The Ohio pottery was propelled to a new level. Before the exhibition ended cheap, French imitations were being produced of Rookwood’s wares. It was now a profitable pottery. Taylor was quoted saying, “We have never thus received at the greatest exposition ever held the utmost honors which it could confer, and it is no exaggeration to speak of Rookwood as being now classed among those potteries which hold the highest rank in the world” (Cincinnati Museum of Art). In its hey-day Rookwood earned more awards at international fairs than any other pottery.

Taylor used every major award to promote Rookwood’s desirability. He developed a national network of retailers. In less than a decade of its establishment, Rookwood was represented by over one hundred retailers across the country. Taylor saw these retailers as more than department store and jewelry store merchants. They were educators, helping the public understand and appreciate Rookwood’s unique artistic vision (Trap 17). The agents advised Taylor about what did and did not sell. Confirming that Rookwood was art, it was patronized by educated women of means and arbiters of taste.

Nichols eventually detached herself from Rookwood after remarrying. She needed to be devoted to her new husband, Bellamy Storer, Jr.’s political career. She presented Rookwood as a gift to Taylor in 1891. He moved Rookwood to a spacious plant by the Cincinnati Art Museum in 1892. It established a close relationship between the pottery, the museum, and the School of Design (Trap 18). Rookwood Pottery Company gained more exposure and became a tourist attraction.

Taylor was in command of the pottery for nine years before stepping down. It was a time of great experimentation because of more access to materials and greater control over technology. Edwin Alee Barber proclaimed in The Pottery and Porcelain of the United States, “It is safe to assert that no ceramic establishment which has existed in the United States has come nearer to fulfilling the requirements of a distinctively American Institution than Rookwood Pottery of Cincinnati, Ohio” (Trap 19).

The decade of the 1920s was Rookwood’s last great decade before history overtook the pottery. Rookwood barely survived the 1929 Stock Market Crash or the Great Depression. Then, as the pottery was beginning to pick up business, material shortages from World War II withered the company. In 1960 Rookwood relocated to Starkville, Mississippi for cheaper labor and production. The original company closed its doors in 1967.