Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930) with one of his dogs, circa 1896. Photograph courtesy of Spruance Library of the Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown.

 

Machinery Can't Make Art

The Pottery and Tiles of Henry Chapman Mercer

By Karla Klein Albertson

DOYLESTOWN, PENN. - "Machinery Can't Make Art: The Pottery and Tiles of Henry Chapman Mercer," at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, pays tribute to the ceramic genius of Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930), whose decorative tiles adorn that state's Capitol in Harrisburg and thousands of other public and private structures throughout the United States.

Although best remembered for these tiles, Mercer was a Victorian Renaissance man who began his adult life as an archaeologist and collector. After graduating from Harvard in 1879, the Doylestown native studied law at the University of Pennsylvania, but this traditional gentleman's career was abandoned as he gave full rein to an abiding interest in history. Extensive travels in Europe and Egypt during the 1880s began to build Mercer's storage bank of romantic and curious images, which provided the inspiration for his subsequent pursuits.

After being named curator of prehistoric and American archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1894, Mercer led an important expedition to the hill caves of the Yucatan Peninsula. A major turning point in his life came several years later when the curator's attention turned from Paleolithic finds to the tools and technology of pre-industrial America - what we now call antiques. By 1897, he gathered together a collection of salvaged artifacts for a display at the Bucks County Historical Society titled "Tools for the Nation Maker."

A statement Mercer made in connection with this exhibition sheds light on the early history of collecting, when gathering Americana was a fresh concept: "When I came to hunt out the tongs from the midst of a disordered pile of old wagons, gumtree salt boxes, flax breaks, straw beehives, tin dinner horns, rope machines and spinning wheels, things that I had heard of but never collectively seen before, the idea occurred to me that the history of Pennsylvania was here profusely illustrated and from a new point of view. I was seized with a new enthusiasm and hurried over the county, rummaging the bake ovens, wagon houses, cellars, hay-lofts, smoke-houses, garrets and chimney corners on this side of the Delaware Valley."

"He was a major archaeologist in his day, and some of his digs are still important," comments exhibition curator Vance Koehler about this period in Mercer's life. "He also contributed much to the science of museology through his systematic acquisition and categorization of objects. His work directly inspired other collectors, including Henry Ford, who used to come to Doylestown to buy from local dealers."

Noting that there had never been an exhibition devoted to Mercer, Koehler wanted to share his research findings on the multi-faceted potter: "I wanted to show the sources of his inspiration, the types of things Mercer was looking at, and explain why a man of 42 decided to change his career mid-stream and become a tile maker." The show he has mounted at the Michener Museum includes more than 200 tiles, drawings, and historic photographs.

An attempt he made in the late 1890s to revive the traditional Pennsylvania-German redware industry was ultimately not successful, but his interest in ceramics had been aroused and eventually he established his own pottery in Doylestown, converting his archaeological workshop, Indian House, into a studio.

Like many people involved in the Arts and Crafts Movement, Mercer ardently believed that creations of artisans were far superior to the machine-made products that ruled the day. The title for the Michener's exhibition is drawn from a statement he made later, "Machinery can't make art. It can make automobiles and radios and telephones, but it can't create art. Art needs the touch of a human hand, its failing as well as its skill."

Utilizing local clay, Mercer began to make art tiles impressed with cameo or intaglio designs, quite unlike the commercial tile patterns of the day. His bold plastic, often high-relief designs drew on a variety of sources he had come across in his travels, from medieval pottery to New World archaeology. Many of the first designs put into production were borrowed directly from the low relief designs which decorated Eighteenth Century Pennsylvania cast iron stove plates that he had unearthed for his "Tools of the Nation Maker" project. His 1914 study of these plates, The Bible in Iron, remains the standard reference on the subject.

"His work was unique, different from anyone else's at the time, although others - Batchelder in California, for example - certainly followed and were inspired by him," explains Koehler, who in addition to putting together the current show is also the permanent curator at Mercer's Moravian Pottery and Tile Works.

He continues, "I don't really think of him as eccentric. If he had lived in New York or even Philadelphia, he probably wouldn't even be considered eccentric. We've had a big debate about this lately, and I always have to defend him because he had a unique vision of what he wanted made. Mercer always thought of himself as very sensible. Everything was thought-out for him. Nothing was really unstudied."

As the show illustrates, Mercer reached a kind of creative maturity in the decade 1907-1917, during which the potter produced more original designs with a definite personal style, still inspired by, but not slavishly copying, historical prototypes. This was also the period during which Mercer constructed his three signature buildings in Doylestown: his castle-like home, Fonthill; the new factory for the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, and what is now called the Mercer Museum, which he donated to the Bucks County Historical Society.

Mercer's tile business flourished, aided by four sales catalogues illustrated with his numerous designs for large and small installations, and production continued until the artist's death in 1930. As Koehler explains, "Selling tiles for floors and interior decor was big business, and there were tile agents or dealers across the country in almost every major city. They would buy samples from the tile works and display them in their showroom."

He continues, "Mercer got very good press. He was mentioned in the major magazines of the day, but he didn't really advertise and promote himself. That was mostly done through architects like Ward Wellington Ward. It only took one architect in Seattle or Portland to place tiles in several dozen sites, where many other people would see them."

Although Mercer tiles are difficult to salvage from disassembled houses because they are often softer than the mortar that surrounds them, collectors can find individual examples at shows and auctions. Most of these antiques were probably agents' samples or souvenirs purchased by visitors to the factory during its productive years.

Prices are often under $100. Flea market finds are in the $10 to $25 range, far less than the $500 to $700 paid for contemporary Grueby or Rookwood art tiles. The Moravian Pottery and Tile Works revived production of a small selection of Mercer's original designs in 1974, and these may be purchased at the site in Doylestown.

A mid-October symposium, "Tiles: A Living History," which took place at various locations around the Philadelphia area. The event - which presented lectures, tours, workshops, and exhibitions - was coordinated by the Tile Heritage Foundation, P.O. Box 1850, Healdsburg, Calif. 95448, telephone 707/431-8453. The non-profit California organization is dedicated to the preservation of antique tile surfaces and the promotion of fresh work by modern artisans. To find out more about their library and research facility, call or visit them on the web at www.aimnet.com/~tcolson/webtiles.

The four-month run of "Machinery Can't Make Art" is accompanied by a string of educational events at the Michener Museum. Cory Amsler of the Bucks County Historical Society discusses Mercer as collector on November 5 at 2 pm, and Vance Koehler will give afternoon gallery talks on November 15 and January 12, both at 2 pm. The museum is also offering a lecture series, "The Art and Craft of American Tiles," on four Tuesday evenings, 7:30-9 pm, beginning November 3. Series fee $45 for non-members; advance registration required.

While in Doylestown for the exhibition, take time for a pilgrimage to the three remarkable buildings Mercer built with and for his tile work: Fonthill, his castlelike home (215/348-9461); the Mercer Museum, which houses many of the artifacts he collected (215/345-0210); and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works (215/345-6722).

"Machinery Can't Make Art: The Pottery and Tiles of Henry Chapman Mercer" continues through January 17, 1999. The James A. Michener Art Museum, at 138 South Pine Street, is open Tuesday to Friday, 10 am to 4:30 pm, and Saturday & Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. Telephone 215/340-9800.