Van Briggle Pottery

Artus Van Briggle in 1900.

Established in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1901 by Artus and Anne Van Briggle, the Van Briggle Art Pottery is the oldest continuously operating art pottery in the United States. Housed in the former Midland Terminal Railroad Roundhouse, it is foundational to American Art Pottery.

Artus settled in Colorado Springs after distinguishing himself as a notable talent at a young age. Artus and Anne began a tradition of art pottery in the Art Nouveau style, drawing awards and accolades from the American and European art communities. Although he was a talented painter who had displayed and won awards in Europe. Van Briggle's Art Nouveau designs and distinctive matte glazes were awarded high honors from many prestigious sources, including the Paris Salon, the Saint Louis Exposition, the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, and the American Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Boston.

History

Early artistic career and studies

Born to artistic parents on March 211869, Artus Van Briggle had an early introduction to painting using materials found about the home. The Van Briggle family lived in Ohio, one of America's hotbeds of ceramic design. At the age of 17 he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio; where he decorated china dolls at the Arnold Fairyland Doll Store, while attending his early art studies at the Cincinnati Art School. After a stint at the Avon Pottery where he was introduced to the ceramic arts, Artus took a job at Rookwood Pottery; there he excelled at hand-painting designs. His skill and talent were recognized by Rookwood founder, Maria Storer, who became his benefactor, even sending him to France to study art at the Académie Julian in Paris.

In Europe he was exposed to many styles of art, and became infatuated with an early matte glaze from the Chinese Ming Dynasty; a type which was lost to history. Artus also met his future wife, fellow American student Anne Lawrence Gregory, an accomplished artist in her own right. Finishing their Paris studies in 1896, they returned to America. Artus resumed his work at Rookwood, but also started sculpting and experimented with recreating the lost Ming Dynasty glazes.

The Despondency vase won Artus Van Briggle wide acclaim, and won first place at the Paris Salon in 1903. The above example displays the matte blue glaze which Artus perfected - an ancient Chinese process which had long been lost to history.

Perfecting the distinctive dull or matte glaze

In 1899, struggling with health issues due to Tuberculosis, Artus left Rookwood and moved to the drier air of Colorado Springs, Colorado. In Colorado, he pursued his own styles of pottery, centered around the Art Nouveau movement, and to continue his research on the ancient matte glazes which had fascinated him in Paris. After two years of trials and experimentation a matte glaze was perfected. Artus opened Van Briggle Pottery in 1901 and was joined Anne Gregory, who took a position as a high school art teacher in Colorado Springs.

In 1902, Anne and Artus were married, and she devoted herself to their pottery; she created many designs and collaborated in all aspects of the enterprise with her husband. Late 1902 brought Van Briggle awards for his glazes and designs in Art Nouveau from the prestigious Paris Salon; he was now an accepted artist. During their early years, Artus and Ann established hundreds of Art Nouveau styles of pottery under the Van Briggle name. A display at the 1904 Centennial Exhibit in St. Louis won Van Briggle more awards and greater international fame.

The richly decorated Van Briggle Memorial Pottery, opened in 1908 and sold to Colorado College in 1968.

Van Briggle Pottery loses its founder

Artus Van Briggle died in July, 1904, at the age of 35. Anne continued the pottery using the forms created by Artus as a foundation, but adding many more designs of her own. In 1907, Anne and pottery stockholder and city-founder William Jackson Palmer began construction on a new pottery on Uintah Street. The Van Briggle Memorial Pottery - designed by Dutch architect Nicholas Van den Arend - was opened in 1908, and stands today as an historic landmark noted for its architecture and use of ceramics in the facade.

Having remarried in 1908, Anne leased the pottery in 1910 to Edwin DeForest Curtis and moved to Denver, where she would concentrate on painting, and where she remained until her death in 1929. In her absence, the pottery fell under financial hardships, and was sold at sheriff's auction; later it was re-sold, once more becoming the property of Mr. Curtis.

Surviving disaster and war

The pottery was sold twice more in the ensuing decade and survived a fire in 1919 which gutted the interior but left the brick shell and kilns. New owners I.F. and J.H. Lewis took the opportunity to modernize and expand the facility beginning in 1920, and stabilized the production and financial aspects of the pottery for the first time. Despite a flood in 1935 [1] which destroyed much of the company's records and many moulds, the pottery continued to enjoy success up to World War II, when they closed for approximately 3 years as America focused its resources on defeating fascism.

With the increase of internal travel in the United States a freeway was planned in 1953 for Colorado Springs which J. H. Lewis estimated would run through the Memorial Plant site. Although the freeway eventually was planned to avoid destroying the historic pottery, Mr. Lewis nonetheless put into action plans to relocate the pottery to a higher-traffic area of Colorado Springs. In 1955, Mr. Lewis and Clem Hull brought a new facility on line at a renovated railroad roundhouse on Midland Road. The new facility, known as the Midland Plant, actually had a smaller capacity, but enjoyed quick success due to its location on the main highway to the Garden of the Gods and other tourist locations.

In 1968, Mr. Lewis sold the Memorial Plant to Colorado College, and it fell into disrepair for the ensuing 40 years, being used variously as offices and storage.

Throwing on the potter's wheel at Van Briggle's Memorial Plant, circa 1948. Clem Hull.

A new era

American tastes in the 1950s turned to modern designs and all things glossy, so Van Briggle embarked on a new era which saw the pottery continue to produce the traditional matte glazes and Art Nouveau designs, but which also saw the introduction of more trendy gloss glazes and modern designs. Longtime employee Kenneth Stevenson took majority control of the company in 1969, and the pottery continued to produce two distinct lines of pottery and enjoyed a period of expansion and relative stability under Fred Wills.

Mr. Stevenson died in 1990, leaving the pottery to his wife Bertha Stevenson and their son Craig A. Stevenson; they have re-dedicated the pottery to its Art Nouveau roots and the ideals which originally made the Van Briggle name famous.

Notable Van Briggle artists

Throughout its history, Van Briggle Pottery has attracted some talented artisans, and since at least the 1930s, has featured tours and live displays of potters "throwing on the wheel."

Potters who have worked at Van Briggle include Ambrose Schlegel, Harry Bangs, Nellie Walker, William Higman, Clem Hull[2], Gene Hopkins, Fred Wills[3], Nelson Curtis, Joe Jezek, Craig Stevenson, Mark Sucharski and Becky Hansen.

Sources

Van Briggle Pottery

• The Collector's Encyclopedia of Van Briggle by Richard Sasicki & Josie Fania
• The Story Behind The Clay by David & Sharon Swint
• The Clement Marot Hull Memorial Association
• Master Potter Fred Wills
• The Colorado Springs Gazette
• The Collector's Guide to Van Briggle Pottery by Scott Nelson and Lois Crouch
• The Van Briggle Story by Dorothy McGraw Bogue

External links

• Van Briggle Art Pottery's Official Web Site
• Unofficial site with information on Van Briggle Pottery and Clem Hull