Art Wedgwood

 

 

ART SUNDAY; WEDGWOOD

Thought I would keep to potters this weekend, hence one of the greatest potters……. Wedgwood. Also of course, a nice piece of Wedgwood has oft been given as a valentine gift which makes this quite appropriate for today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wedgwood_josiah.shtml

Josiah Wedgwood (1730 - 1795)

A designer and  manufacturer of high-quality pottery and a campaigner for social reform.

Josiah Wedgwood came from a family of potters. He was apprenticed to his elder brother Thomas when his father died. He contracted smallpox which led to him losing his right led in 1768, a horrendous experience in those days.
This made throwing pots difficult but he turned this disadvantage into an advantage by gaining more experience and knowledge of the other aspects of being a potter, he discovered a love of experimentation with in the craft.
His brother Thomas refused to enter into a business partnership with him which forced him to seek out other business opportunities. After several moves and different partners, in June 1769, he opened a new factory at Etruria, near Stoke-on-Trent, in partnership with Thomas Bentley. Attached to the factory was a village where Wedgwood's workmen and their families could live in decent surroundings.
This was one of the earliest examples of social engineering and an example of his desire to better the lives of ordinary working people.
Wedgwood made vast improvements to the ordinary crockery of the day, he introduced durable but wares which has STYLE. His cream coloured earthenware was christened 'Queen's Ware' after Queen Charlotte, who appointed him queen's potter in 1762. Other patrons included Empress Catherine II of Russia, who ordered 952 such pieces in 1774.
Wedgwood experimented with barium sulphate (caulk), and from it managed to produce jasper.
Jasperware, which is still used for different ornaments, blends metallic oxides, often blue, with separately moulded reliefs, generally white. Some such reliefs were designed for Wedgwood by John Flaxman.
Other wares included black basaltes, frequently enhanced by 'encaustic' colours like red, to imitate Greek vases.
Wedgwood was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1783, primarily for inventing the pyrometer to measure oven temperatures. His social engineering didn’t stop with his immediate workforce, he was interested in efficiency within the factory and with the transportation of the raw materials he needed.  He improved transport via the Grand Trunk Canal, and by road.
In 1780, when Wedgwood's long-term business partner died, he asked his friend Erasmus Darwin for help. Darwin's son would later marry Wedgwood's daughter, and they were the parents of Charles Darwin, the naturalist who formulated the theory of evolution.
When Wedgwood died on 3rd January 1795 he left a thriving business and a fortune to his children.

 

delete reply acousticeagle wrote on Feb 16, '09 Some nice and elegant pieces shown there. I often see examples of Wedgwood by watching the English program 'The Antiques Roadshow', which is on late afternoon tv in Aussieland.

delete reply pestep55 wrote on Feb 15, '09 Beautiful pieces and great post. I never knew all this history. Thanks!

delete reply asolotraveler wrote on Feb 15, '09 i am captivated by the wonderful rabbit plate! thanks

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Feb 15, '09 Too bad the workers of the world don't have more employers like Wedgewood. Lovely post

delete reply sousonne wrote on Feb 15, '09 Beautiful!

delete reply starfishred wrote on Feb 14, '09 very lovely loretta-my wedding china was wedgewood and I still have it all and will never give it away-also have a few other pieces and they are so lovely-great blog thanks

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Feb 14, '09 Having taken some pottery classes and thrown some pots, I have some appreciation for how difficult it is to make good pottery. It is a weakness of mine, I love it. So I haunt art shows and buy it or antique stores where decent pieces can often be obtained. Thank you for the history of this artist and his work.

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Feb 14, '09 This is very nice Loretta, it shows the diversity of his work. Mention Wedgewood china to the average American and the jasperware, "Wedgewood blue", comes to mind. In fact that color and design is thought of as 'the' Wedgewood China. It isn't that widely known that he did so many other patterns and colors. My personal favorite is the green jasperware and the green with the parrot and rose design.

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Feb 14, '09 Fascinating! I didnt know any of this info about his families :)