American Artwares of the Depression Era
by Jeffrey B. Snyder

    Faced with the hard times of the Great Depression in the 1930s, American pottery firms once dedicated to the creation of expensive, hand made art potteries had to change their ways. These firms replaced their expensive artwares with less costly, yet distinctive, new lines of mass-produced, strikingly glazed artwares. Among the large American potteries producing artwares during these Depression years were the Rookwood, Roseville, and Weller pottery companies. Many other firms added to the varied and interesting wares produced during this troubled decade as well, adding to the fascinating array of Depression era artwares enticing ever greater numbers of collectors into this expanding collecting field today.

    “Artware” refers to factory-produced, decorative ceramics of striking designs that are either simply hand decorated or glazed in fashionable colors. These objects were usually vibrantly glazed ceramics of various earthenwares or special clay mixes. Artwares were mass produced in pottery factories and decorated simply to keep costs low. Over the past thirty years, collectors have come to appreciate twentieth century artware in ever greater numbers. Today there is a very broad base of collectors who eagerly seek out these well designed ceramic forms.

     American artware’s roots are traced back to the development of art pottery in the United States in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Back in the late 1800s, ceramic painting was very popular among women. In fact, the passion for ceramic painting would lead directly to the establishment of Rookwood Pottery, possibly the leading American art pottery, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Rookwood Pottery Company
 

Artist-signed Rookwood vases.  Lorinda Epply, 1930, 6.25"high, $1165.  Margaret McDonald, 1937,  6" high, $1325. Sally Coyne,  1930, 7.25", $995. Lorinda Epply, 1931, 4" high, $785.

Rookwood Pottery was founded in 1880 by Maria Longworth Nichols, a ceramist of note, and member of a wealthy family known for art patronage. Originally she worked on her own in a studio over a wagon shed owned by Dallas Pottery of Cincinnati. Shortly thereafter, her father, Joseph Longworth, purchased an old schoolhouse for her, where she set up her pottery works, naming the operation Rookwood. A friend of hers from Dallas Pottery, Joseph Bailey, Sr., assisted in the purchase of equipment and materials for the operation. Joseph Bailey, Sr. also arranged for an outlet to sell the new Rookwood Pottery wares. Rookwood Pottery was ready for operation in September 1880.

 
     Albert Valentien, one time student of the Cincinnati School of Design, was hired to head the decorating department in the fall of 1881. Under his direction, Rookwood motifs were to use American flora and fauna to create distinctive art pottery.

     Vases turned on the potter’s wheel were the most common form produced by the newly established firm. Rookwood pieces were signed by their designers. In the late nineteenth century, the Rookwood designs were greatly influenced by Japanese design, and the Japanese emphasis on fine glazes. In fact, so taken was Maria Nichols with Japanese design that she hired the Japanese designer, Kataro Shirayamadani, who became Rookwood’s most famous artist. Mr. Shirayamadani was particularly well known for the quality of his underglaze painting. Among the many glossy Rookwood glazes of note, the shimmering crystalline Tiger Eye glaze was especially admired.

      In 1901, Rookwood introduced a line of matt glazes, which were very popular with the public at that time, and remain very popular with collectors today. Among their matt glazes were conventional matt, incised mat, modeled matt, painted matt, and painted matt inlay.

    Leaping ahead, the Depression years quickly took their toll on Rookwood. One year after the stock market crash of 1929, the company was struggling with its finances. As Rookwood Pottery entered the Depression years, their wares could be divided into two categories, the decorated and the commercial wares. In the first category, the artist decorated wares were adorned with decorations that were unique. The second category, the commercial wares, were mass produced, decorated by simpler means, and were not unique objects. With the commercial wares, artist decorated art pottery (frequently hand turned--or hand made--as well) gave way to mass produced commercial artware. Included among the commercial artwares are objects featuring molded body decorations.

     By the end of 1932, the majority of the company’s decorators were laid off. Several decorators continued to work on special order projects, however. At this point, decorated wares were curtailed and commercial wares adorned only with distinctive shapes and glazes were created. Master potter Earl Menzel created a Dip/Drip line during this period. The lines Coromandel, Later Goldstone, and Later Tiger Eye were all in production during this period as none required the attentions of skillful and expensive decorators.

 Beginning in 1941, mounting financial problems would lead to several sales of the struggling firm. By 1967, the Rookwood Pottery Company was finished.

Following Rookwood’s Lead

     As Maria Nichols’s Rookwood Pottery grew, other potters took note and were soon actively producing art pottery throughout the United States. A number of these firms would continue production during the Depression years, turning to the production of artwares as Rookwood had done. Among them were Weller and Roseville. Samuel A. Weller, in Zanesville, Ohio, produced wares similar to Rookwood’s; however, Weller produced pottery on a far larger scale in 1895. Weller produced an eye-catching iridescent glaze combining different metallic lusters. Roseville Pottery, incorporated in Roseville, Ohio, in January of 1892, would produce its first art pottery around 1900. For Roseville, the company’s most successful artware line, Pine Cone, would be first introduced during the depths of the Depression in 1935.

Weller Pottery

Weller’s Ollas gourd-shaped water bottle and undertray dating from the late 1930s. Water bottle, 12" high; undertray, 8.25" diameter. $165 for 3-piece set.

    Samuel A. Weller first established a small pottery in Fultonham, Ohio, in 1872. With early success, Weller was able to move his business to Zanesville, Ohio, a decade later in 1882. Samuel Weller would retain control of his company until his death in 1925, when the firm was passed to his nephew, Harry Weller.

     In 1895, Samuel Weller purchased the Lonhuda Pottery of Steubenville, Ohio. With that purchase, Weller also obtained the techniques and means of producing Lonhuda art pottery, an underglaze, slip decorated ware. With that purchase, Weller Pottery launched upon a long career in the art pottery market. The company’s first move was to rename the Lonhuda line Louwelsa and re-release it to the public. Louwelsa, decorated in yellow and brown glazes, would sell well for the company from 1895 to 1918, featuring over five hundred items in the line.

   By 1905, the company was competing successfully in the art pottery market. At that time the company had some twenty different styles available. Following World War I, the company needed to produce less expensive lines of pottery. At this point the company began producing molded lines. Many of the molded patterns were drawn from American scenes, flora and fauna. One of the lines from this period, “Woodcraft,” featured owls and foxes in woodland motifs. The company’s “Zona” line, featuring bright red apples on a light colored background, would be sold to Gladding, McBean and Company to become the basis for the popular Franciscan Apple line.

    John Lessel, an expert in the use of metallic luster glazes, was hired by Weller as the company’s art director in 1920. In this position, Lessel created Lamar, Marengo and other metallic and luster glazes. He is also credited with perfecting the company’s Chinese red Chengtu line.

   Dorothy England, one of the firm’s modelers, created a number of striking later company patterns including the Ollas Water Bottle. This bottle was shaped as a gourd with a stemmed lid. It was glazed in a variety of colors and had an underplate.

   When the Depression began, demand for expensive hand decorated art pottery and commercial artwares diminished. To survive in this difficult market, Weller ceased most of their hand decoration and introduced two new inexpensive single fire lines a year. For these lines, the bisque body and glaze are fired together in a single, economical operation. These lines were distinguished by their glazes alone. The Cactus line was one example of the new, inexpensive line. Cactus animal figurines were molded, glazed and fired once. These lines worked nicely for Weller during the Depression years. Bonito was another inexpensive line, introduced in 1932.

    Weller also produced a wide range of utilitarian wares to compete in the difficult Depression period market. Light Blue Banded Ware, a white glazed cookware decorated with a wide pinstripe line on either side, was a perfect example of this utilitarian ware. While few housewives were in the market for jardinieres or vases, all would still need casseroles and mixing bowls.

    The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 offered Weller another opportunity. The factory produced beer mugs enthusiastically to meet the pent up demand of the previously dry society.

 Weller Pottery survived the Depression and continued making pottery throughout the war years. Unfortunately, the company succumbed to financial difficulties and foreign competition in 1948.

Roseville Pottery Company

Baneda vase by Roseville, 1933, 4.25" high, $395+.

    The Roseville Pottery Company, first established in Roseville, Ohio, in 1890, was acquired by George Frank Young and the company manufacturing was transferred to Zanesville, Ohio, in 1898. The company produced both commercial and art pottery products. By the late 1800s, the company was successful enough to purchase several additional potteries in the area, extending the firm’s ability to create a wider range of pottery wares. By 1901, Roseville operated four plants.

   By 1900, George Young believed his company was diverse enough to compete with Weller in the art pottery market. Ross Purdy was hired to develop and launch the company’s first art pottery line, Rozane. The Rozane line featured a variety of well executed forms decorated with deep, blended background colors complemented with a variety of natural motifs, including flora and fauna, and portraits.

    The success of the initial line would lead to a wide variety of art pottery and artware lines in the years to come. The continued success of the company propelled it from one modest plant employing 45 workers to a well established competitor producing commercial artware on a very large scale by the outbreak of World War II, with sales exceeding one million dollars. Roseville wares reached consumers through major department stores and catalog houses around the nation. Between 1890 and 1954, the prolific Roseville Pottery Company would manufacture some 132 different product lines. Four generations of George Young’s family would guide the company over the years until the firm closed in 1954.

    Roseville produced a wide variety of artware lines during the Depression years. One line, Futura, was introduced just prior to the economic collapse in 1928 and was offered for only a single year. Futura was considered too futuristic for Depression era consumers’ tastes. Roseville’s Depression era artwares include:

Futura (1928), Imperial (1930 glazes), Earlam (1930), Ferella (1930), Sunflower (c. 1930), Montacello (1931), Windsor (1931), Jonquil (ca. 1931), Ivory (1932), Baneda (1932), Blackberry (ca. 1932), Cherry Blossom (1933), Tourmaline (1933), Artcraft (1933), Falline (1933), Wisteria (1933), Laurel (1934), Topeo (1934), Luffa (1934), Russco (1934), Pine Cone (1935--one of the company’s most successful lines), Velmoss (1935), Morning Glory (1935), Orian (1935), Clemana (1936), Primrose (1936), Moderne (1936), Moss (1936), Thorn Apple (1937), Dawn (1937), Ixia (1937), Poppy (1938), Teasel (1938), Fuchsia (1938), Iris (1939), Cosmos (1939), Crystal Green (ca. 1939), Bleeding Heart (1940), White Rose (1940), Columbine (1941), Rozane Pattern (1941), and Bushberry (1941).

Fulper Pottery Company

Fulper Pottery Company handled jug, 6.5" high, $565. Hourglass vase,
4.5" high, $225. Pedestal ball vase, 7.25" high, $295. Bullet vase,
blue, 6.75" high, $325.

     Moving to the East coast, the talented artisans of the Fulper Pottery Company added their own interpretation to American art pottery and Depression era artwares. Abraham Fulper purchased the pottery firm of Samuel Hill in Flemington, New Jersey, in 1858. At this time the company produced utilitarian stonewares, earthenwares and drainage tiles. Abraham’s grandson, William Fulper II, took control of the company in the early 1900s, producing art pottery with a variety of impressive glazes. William Fulper II produced the Vasekraft art pottery line in 1909.

    Fulper pottery tends to be substantial, even heavy. The clay is similar to stoneware but was referred to as earthenware to prevent associating the pottery with utilitarian wares typically produced from stonewares. The clay used by the company was gathered locally from around Trenton. Usually, Fulper pottery was molded, although hand thrown wares were produced for special orders or exhibitions.
    Fulper pottery was distinctive for its early use of glaze as the single defining decorative element of the pottery, a habit that would serve them well during the Depression. This shift in decorative technique was startling to consumers familiar with the delicately painted art pottery produced by Rookwood, Roseville and Weller.

    Of the company’s glazes, there were over one hundred available at any time, although roughly thirty were most commonly used. Fulper glazes fell into several general categories: mirror, flambe, lustre, matte, wisteria, and crystalline or crystal. Glaze combinations were mixed freely as well. A great number of the glaze colors could be referred to as “earth tones” or “organic.”

    Fulper Pottery offered a wide range of wares including bookends, bowls, candleholders, desk accessories, figurines, flower frogs, lamps, potpourri jars, and vases. The company introduced a line of green glazed dinnerware to the public in 1920 and added additional glaze colors in 1930. Fulper purchased the Anchor Pottery Company of Trenton, New Jersey, in 1926 and transferred most of the company’s operations to that plant. This was fortunate as most of the Flemington plant structures were destroyed by fire in 1929. Still, art pottery continued to be produced at Flemington until 1935.

   There were other fine firms producing distinctive artware products during the Depression years as well, including Cowan and McCoy. Today, the ceramics produced by all of these firms throughout this difficult decade in American history are highly prized by the collecting community. These items are eagerly sought at auctions, antique shops, and over the internet. Many of these items command high prices. However, if you are careful in your selection, buying the best pieces you can afford, you will have a collection that will provide you with joy for many years to come.

About the author: Jeffrey B. Snyder is the author of Depression Pottery, available for $29.95 through Schiffer Publishing, 610-593-1777.