Art Pottery Of The United States

Art pottery has become a generally accepted and widely used term to describe pottery--earthenware, stoneware and porcelain--produced primarily for aesthetic, decorative purposes. So extensive are the use and misuse of the term that it is essential to arrive at a working definition--Page 1.

[This book] "is an attempt...to take a regional look at American art pottery and...to trace the continuity that runs through it from its amateur beginnings in the late 1870s to its almost total industrialization..." -- Curator's introduction.

Explores the characteristics and unique features of the main pottery studios in the U.S.

A comprehensive study of American art pottery, arranged alphabetically by the potteries. The text includes important historical data, photographs of each pottery's representative forms, and a complete series of the identifying marks from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Recently updated price guide.

Ralph and Terry Kovel are proud to present the most authoritative and current art pottery book on the market, Kovels' American Art Pottery: The Collector's Guide to Makers, Marks, and Factory Histories. After the Kovels began collecting American art pottery in the 1960s, they decided to research and write their first book on the subject, The Kovels' Collector's Guide to American Art Pottery (Crown, 1974). Since that time, art pottery has become one of the most important and popular areas of collecting in this country. Today, many pieces are still very affordable, and collectors everywhere are searching for art pottery treasures. Many other pieces are represented in museum collections, and some pieces are selling for thousands of dollars. The Kovels have never stopped researching the history of art pottery factories and products, and have been continuously gathering new or previ-ously unpublished information from rediscovered catalogs and records, archaeological digs, and family histories. And now, they offer the most com-plete and up-to-date pottery book available, Kovels'American Art Pottery. Written with the collector in mind, this book emphasizes all the information needed for an under-standing of art pottery factories and their wares. The Kovels list large and small art pottery firms and include a general history of each one. Makers, artists and their backgrounds, artists' and factory marks, dates, and lines of pottery are all described in detail. The Kovels discuss the well-known factories such as Rookwood, Weller, and Grueby, as well as the lesser-known or recently recognized potteries such as Avon, Radford, and Zanesville. More than 215 potteries are listed here fromA to Z. There is also a full section on tile factories following the art pottery portion of the book. Kovels' American Art Pottery is extensively illustrated with more than 700 beautiful color and black-and-white photographs of art pottery pieces. Also included are fascinating historical photographs and more than 1,000 illustrations of actual artist and factory marks. The thorough range of photographs and illustrations will enable any collector to identify a piece of art pottery by its decoration, shape, color, or identifying mark. And to complete this valuable reference, a bibliography is provided for all those who wish further information about the historical aspects of a pottery. Kovels' American Art Pottery is an indispensable book for all collectors, dealers, museums, or antiques enthusiasts who wish to know all they can about this exquisite art form.

This successful series offers clear, accessible, easy-to-follow information to help the collector develop an appraiser's eye and a connoisseur's knowledge. At the heart of each book approximately 50 to 60 pairs of related objects are analyzed, compared, and evaluated to discover why one item is more valuable than the other. The factors involved may be age, rarity, intricacy of design, make, marks, provenance, or restoration. A veritable master class in appraising art pottery, this authoritative guide includes an introduction to the subject, covering such topics as buying and selling, materials, decorations, periods, and styles. All the key studios of American art pottery are featured including Paul Revere, Rookwood Grueby Faience, Dedham, Volkmar, and Taco.