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Rookwood Pottery was
founded by Maria Longworth Nichols (later Mrs. Bellamy Storer,
Jr.) in 1880, forming the business in Cincinnati, Ohio in an
old abandoned schoolhouse bought for her by her father which
she named Rookwood after the family country estate. She was
one of a group of talented society women in Cincinnati, Ohio,
who painted blank china as a hobby and which prompted her to
go into business, and she learned under Benn Pitman of the Cincinnati
School of Design. Nichols first conceived the idea of establishing
her own pottery at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of
1876, and she was fascinated by the sophisticated European pottery
and exotic ceramics of Japan and China on display in the pavilions.
From the beginning, Rookwood was a haven for talented and artistic
women who loved their work of decorating pottery. However, Rookwood
quickly grew into a well respected business, one of the first
in America to be owned and operated by a woman. The quality
of the craftsmanship, artistry, and innovative glazes were widely
recognized and loved, and the distinctive green and gold of
early Rookwood glazes came naturally from the effect of the
Ohio clay.
She emphasized that
her pottery's production would be artistic rather than commercial,
and she hired artists who were accomplished easel painters and
sculptors in their own right. The first artist she hired was
Henry Farny who was well known for his American Indian subjects,
and 1881 she hired the 19 year old Albert Robert Valentien who
shared her admiration for the Japanese aesthetic. In 1883, William
Watts Taylor became the general business manager of Rookwood
Pottery, and under his leadership it began its climb to the
top. Taylor encouraged innovation in all aspects, and he hired
a top chemist to develop unique glazes never before seen. From
the beginning, Rookwood has been prized by collectors due to
the detailed and accurate markings which reflect style, model
number, artist, date of manufacture. Taylor brought in many
more top artists including Kataro Shirayamadani, who was one
of Rookwood's best known artists from 1890 until he died in
1948 at age 93. Maria Longworth Nichols had long hoped to hire
a Japanese artist, and in 1887 she persuaded Shirayamadani to
come to Cincinnati from his job in Boston. A new factory was
built in 1891 to accomodate the growing number of resident artists
and craftsmen, now numbering over 60. Almost all of Rookwood
pottery is marked, most with the famous flame mark dating the
individual pieces and the marks of famous artists such as Katoro
Shirayamadani, Schmidt, Matthew Andrew Daly, Artus
Van Briggle, Sarah Sax, Grace Young, Sarah Coyne, Laura
Ann Fry, Edward Timothy Hurley, Sarah Alice Toohey, Lorinda
Epply, Elizabeth Barrett, and more.
Many new glazes and
decorating methods were developed by the chemists at Rookwood,
and early in its history they established a relationship with
Edwin Atlee Barber, a pioneering ceramics scholar who became
curator and later director at the Pennsylvania Museum and School
of Industrial Arts. Barber had first refusal on the artist-signed
ceramics that Rookwood was exhibiting at the many international
expositions popular in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Rookwood's glaze innovation attracted attention right from the
start, including the very early Standard glaze, a deep yellow,
orange and red over dark brown with a high gloss. Although often
applied to works in a flower or leaf motif, the Standard glaze
was also typically used for Rookwood's American Indians and
portraits which today command very high prices. Matte glaze
is a flat textured glaze usually painted on soft colored clays,
and Sea Green is a blue green glaze painted on soft blue, yellow
and red often applied to fish or floral scenes. Vellum glaze
is a type of matte glaze, often pale blue, put over lightly
colored clay, and this finish proved particularly beautiful
when used for landscapes. The Iris glaze, often painted in a
floral motif, is a glossy white glaze covering gray, pink, soft
blue and yellow. The famous Rookwood R-P monogram was first
used in 1886, and a flame was added around the symbol each year
thereafter. There are also typically clay or body marks indicating
which color or type of clay the piece was made of. "P" stands
for soft porcelain, begun in 1914. Shape numbers and size letters
correspond to the many shapes used over the years. "S" identified
a special piece, while "Z" required a matte glaze. Vellum glaze
was marked with a "V" while trial pieces were marked "T". Imperfect
pieces were incised with an "X" and sold for a reduced price.
Maria Longworth Nichols
soon married and maintained less interest in the business, leaving
the operation in the hands of Taylor who ran the business until
1913 when he passed away. Rookwood was sold in stores such as
Tiffany, Ovington and other large department stores in major
cities across the country. To diversify, Rookwood began producing
commercial architectural pieces about 1902 which soon began
to appear in buildings across the country. Rookwood tiles became
quite well known through their use in major hotels, train terminals,
Grand Central Station and several subway station stops in New
York City. By the 1920s, Rookwood had grown dramatically into
a thriving concern employing over 225 workers, and thousands
of visitors came to the factory each year. Rookwood has always
been expensive and remains so today, and while there was some
mass production they always maintained a strong, individualistic
artistic tradition. The Great Depression was a disaster for
Rookwood and most other makers of luxury goods as the population
could no longer afford such items. As the country climbed out
of depression, cheaper clones of Rookwood tiles and vases began
to appear, further weakening the financial condition of the
company. In 1941, Rookwood Pottery filed for bankruptcy. A succession
of subsequent owners could never recapture the glory years of
Rookwood, and production ceased completely in 1960. The original
molds were purchased first by a clock company in Mississippi
and subsequently by a dentist in Michigan in 1983 who made very
limited quantities of tiles each year.
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