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William De Morgan was the principal ceramic designer and maker in
the Arts and Crafts Movement. Heavily influenced by the art of the
Middle East, he was active for nearly thirty years from the 1870s
onwards and was never content with an existing technical process if
he thought it could be improved. He is famous for his vases and
decorative chargers, but it is arguably his tiles - still to be
found in homes and museums around Britain and the world - that have
made the greatest impact. His tiles portray iconic images of
animals, ships and floral designs, blending style influences to
produce designs that featured new, stylized interpretations and a
whimsical character. He combined a strong design style with rich
glaze colours, making blue and green, and a deep orangey red into
visual trademarks. There were important commissions from royalty
and industry, and his ceramics were marketed to the growing middle
classes by William Morris, the founder and leading light of the
Arts and Crafts Movement. The tiles of the Arts and Crafts Movement
are now highly collectible, and none more so than those made at
William De Morgan's Chelsea, Merton Abbey and Fulham potteries.
This highly illustrated book, by acknowledged experts on De Morgan,
presents the first study of the tiles to be published in over
thirty-five years and features an examination of De Morgan's lustre
glazes using high sensitivity X-ray analysis.
The Ruskin Pottery operated from around 1898 to 1935. Founded by
William Howson Taylor and his father Edward (Superintendent of the
Birmingham School of Art) the pottery used simple forms and new
glaze technologies in contrast to highly decorated majolica and
earthenware that had been popular in the second half of the
nineteenth century. The Ruskin Pottery was one of the most
important potteries of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and William
Howson Taylor was pre-eminent among a group of 'chemist potters' at
the start of the twentieth century. The most important glaze effect
was the reduction of copper and iron oxides during firing, to
produce rich red, blue, lavender and green hues. This technique was
also called 'high-fired' ware and the red glaze, 'sang de boeuf'.
The Chinese had used reduction firing in previous centuries, but it
fell out of use and was re-introduced by several European
ceramicists during the late nineteenth century. William Howson
Taylor became the greatest exponent of the technique, and won major
awards at successive International Exhibitions, the first being at
St Louis in 1904. This initiated an important export business to
the USA, with stores that retailed his wares including Tiffany's.
The pottery closed in 1933 with some pots being fired until final
closure in 1935. William Howson Taylor, then ill, burnt all the
glaze recipes and died soon after.
Rob Higgins shows how taking the aerial route gives unique insights
into the history and workings of Britain’s railways. The marvels
of Victorian engineering in their construction, their relationships
to the canals they replaced as the main arteries of transport, and
the communities and industry they spawned along their length can
all be seen in detail. This book flies from the Scottish Highlands
to Cornwall; from marshalling yards in the centre of the UK to
lines hugging cliffs and beaches. All the viaducts on the ‘top’
section of the Settle & Carlisle line are featured, together
with many other viaducts and bridges, including the swing bridges
in the Norfolk Broads. Lineside industries are seen, from a huge
malting complex in East Anglia to our fast-disappearing
coal-powered power stations.
The Arts and Crafts Movement was a reaction to the brutality of
working life and the sterility of industrial design in Victorian
Britain. Although Arts and Crafts was initially a mediaeval
revival, the movement was always about the artist craftsman and the
appropriate use of materials, rather than any single design
tradition. The movement was inspired and led by William Morris,
whose company was founded in 1861 and produced a full range of
interior furnishings, including tiles. These were designed by
Morris himself, and also by leading artists and architects of the
day such as Edward Burne Jones and Philip Webb. The term Arts and
Crafts was formalised in the late 1880s, and many designers,
artists and craftsmen joined Morris in this new movement, and
leading designers including Walter Crane and C. F. A. Voysey
produced distinctive and now highly collectable ceramic tiles that
were used to decorate the bathrooms and the fireplaces of the
wealthy and discerning. This book, with its companion on the work
of William de Morgan, is the first complete introduction to British
Arts and Crafts tiles from 1860 to 1920.
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