Abacus
Antique Dealers: Art Nouveau Ceramics
In
pottery, as in other areas, Art Nouveau was demonstrated
by its break away from the imitation of the past.
Shapes from nature were adapted into stylized decorative
patterns. A new feeling for color was developed which
continued to influence designs in the manufacture
of pottery in the twentieth century.
In
the 1880’s and 1890’s new styles began to
appear as a reaction against historical revivals and
reproductions of earlier models. A new generation
of designers at some of the oldest factories began
to develop fresh techniques of manufacture and decoration.
The new style of Art Nouveau emerged in Europe in
the 1880’s and influenced porcelain design, although
to a lesser extent than it did the design of earthenware.
A few designers in the new style, like Hector Guimard,
worked in both kinds of ceramics. Guimard designed
three shapes for production in soft paste porcelain
at Sevres (1903-1904) with crystalline glazes.
The
most dramatic innovations came in the development
of new glazes, some of which reflected the design
preoccupations of the period. French iridescent wares
were largely restricted to those produced by Clement
Massier, who pioneered the development of iridescent
glazes. Other French ceramists appear to have preferred
working with clean white porcelain such as those decorated
by Georges de Feure and retailed by Siegfried Bing.
The
Art Nouveau style was widely adopted, and expressed
in elongated, sometimes controlled shapes, shimmering
contorted shapes, or richly colored glazes. Patterns
and motifs typical of Art Nouveau such as trailing
or climbing plants or nude dancing figures were often
used in decorating the pottery. New ideas were associated
with the Japanese and their art. Japanese stoneware
was, perhaps, the major single influence on pottery
made in the last 25 years of the century.
French
potters, unlike their contemporaries in England, had
an attitude towards studio pottery, which related
it very clearly to that of fine art. There was a collaboration
between potters, painters and sculptors which was
not unusual. Potters such as Andre Metthey used painters
of the Paris school such as Rouault, Matisse, Bonnard
and Redon to decorate their pottery. In ceramics,
Art Nouveau was often found in the works of small
art potteries rather than in the products of the great
factories.
