Grueby Faience Company
Encyclopedia
Ceramic
A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...
s company that produced distinctive vases and tiles during America's Arts and Crafts Movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
.
The company was founded in Revere, Massachusetts
Revere, Massachusetts
Revere is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and located approximately from downtown Boston. It is named after the American patriot Paul Revere. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 51,755.- History :...
, by William Henry Grueby (Boston 1867—New York 1925), who had been inspired by the matte glazes on French pottery and the refined simplicity of Japanese ceramics he had seen at the World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
in Chicago the previous year, and the architect-designer William Graves
William Graves
William Graves may refer to:* William Graves , who sat for the East Looe constituency in the British Parliament* William J. Graves , US Representative from Kentucky...
. During its first years, Grueby produced glazed architectural terra cotta and faience
Faience
Faience or faïence is the conventional name in English for fine tin-glazed pottery on a delicate pale buff earthenware body, originally associated with Faenza in northern Italy. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip...
tiles. Teamed with the designer George Prentiss Kendrick, who was responsible for the simple vase shapes, beginning in 1897/98, and focusing primarily on art pottery vases, Grueby introduced matte glazes, including the matte cucumber green that became the company's hallmark.
Grueby's work won two gold and one silver medal at the Exposition Universelle
Exposition Universelle (1900)
The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from April 15 to November 12, 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next...
(Paris, 1900), medals at the Pan-American Exposition
Pan-American Exposition
The Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is present day Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Ave. to Elmwood Ave and northward to Great Arrow...
(Buffalo, 1901) and a gold medal at the St. Petersburg Exhibition of Ceramics (1901) and a gold medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition
Louisiana Purchase Exposition
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in 1904.- Background :...
(St. Louis, 1904).
Grueby faience stood in the mainstream of Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
design in the United States. Graves and Kendrick were eventually replaced by the architect Addison LeBoutillier and Henry Belknap, who had worked with Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements...
. Later, Karl Langenbeck, formerly of the Rookwood Pottery, would superintend design. Soon Grueby vases were for sale at Samuel Bing
Samuel Bing
Siegfried Bing , often referenced erroneously as "Samuel Bing", was a German art dealer who lived in Paris as an adult, and who helped introduce Japanese art and artworks to the West and was a factor in the development of the Art Nouveau style during the late nineteenth century.-Biography:Bing was...
's shop in Paris, L'Art Nouveau, which gave a name to the progressive art movement, and through Tiffany & Co.
Tiffany & Co.
Tiffany & Co. is an American jewelry and silverware company. As part of its branding, the company is strongly associated with its Tiffany Blue , which is a registered trademark.- History :...
in New York, where Tiffany Studios used Grueby lamp bases. Gustav Stickley
Gustav Stickley
Gustav Stickley was a manufacturer of furniture and the leading proselytizer for the American Arts and Crafts movement, an extension of the British Arts and Crafts movement.-Biography:...
incorporated Grueby tiles in his stands and tables, shared a stand with Grueby at the Pan-American Exposition
Pan-American Exposition
The Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is present day Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Ave. to Elmwood Ave and northward to Great Arrow...
and through his catalog offered Grueby vases and lamps.
Grueby's work incited mass-market competition and the company went bankrupt in 1909. Grueby emerged from bankruptcy and began limited production runs that included statues, pottery, and tiles until 1911. There was a fire in the manufactory in 1913, but Grueby rebuilt. In 1917, the C. Pardee Works in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, bought out the company's works; the Grueby company closed for good in 1920.
Grueby Faience Company, which still remains better known for its art pottery, also produced glazed architectural tiles, which were impressed in molds. Grueby polychrome glazed tiles can still be seen in the revetment
Revetment
Revetments, or revêtements , have a variety of meanings in architecture, engineering and art history. In stream restoration, river engineering or coastal management, they are sloping structures placed on banks or cliffs in such a way as to absorb the energy of incoming water...
s of Interborough Rapid Transit Company
Interborough Rapid Transit Company
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company was the private operator of the original underground New York City Subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT was purchased by the City in June 1940...
subway stations in New York and making up the thirty-six original tile murals in the main lobby of Scranton, Pennsylvania's Lackawanna Train Station
Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel
The Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, built as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station, is a neo-classical building in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was built as a train station and office building in 1908; closed in 1970; listed on the U.S...
(restored in 2007-09).
The standard monograph is Susan J. Montgomery, The Ceramics of William H. Grueby: The Spirit of New Idea in Artistic Handicraft, 1993. The collection at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
is catalogued by Montgomery, Grueby Pottery: A New England Arts and Crafts Venture : The William Curry Collection, Hood Museum of Art
Hood Museum of Art
The Hood Museum of Art is a museum in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Dating back to 1772, the museum is owned and operated by Dartmouth College and is connected to the Hopkins Center for the Arts. The current building, designed by Charles Willard Moore and Chad Flloyd, opened in the fall of 1985. It...
, Dartmouth College, 1994.