: - Building on a foundation of graceful and well-crafted ceramic
shapes, the great strengths of the Rookwood Pottery based in
Cincinnati, Ohio, were the artistic skills of its superb roster
of decorators and the firm's technical innovations in the field
of colored glazes. Collectors who know Rookwood only from the
shining floral-decorated Iris glaze vases made prior to World War
I are viewing only a fraction of the artistic production created
at the pottery during its long history.
"Elegant Innovations: American Rookwood Pottery, 1880-1960," a
new exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through February
8, presents 140 works from an extraordinary collection formed by
Gerald and Virginia Gordon and later presented to the
institution. The couple was fortunate enough to discover Rookwood
before collector interest and auction prices for art pottery
began spiraling higher during the 1980s. Their first major piece,
an 1885 Mahogany glaze vase featuring a Japanese crane design by
important decorator Albert Robert Valentien, was purchased at
auction in 1972 for less than $500.
When they conceived the idea of eventually donating their pottery
to a museum, they decided to assemble a comprehensive collection
that represented the best of Rookwood from every era. The
examples on display present a broad range of artistic styles and
techniques dating from the firm's foundation in 1880 and
extending into the second half of the Twentieth Century.
