This is an incredibly lucky find from yesterday while going through a dealer’s giant inventory of twentieth century art and studio pottery in Peabody, Massachusetts. This unsigned circa 1910 or so stoneware vase decorated with cobalt and black is attributed to Russell Crook (1869-1955) in South Lincoln, Massachusetts, whereas the size of this vase is quite rare to find from Crook today, measuring only 3 3/4 inches in height.
For a brief history: Russell Crook was born in San Francisco in 1869, and later moved to Massachusetts. He was a prolific sculptor, plaster modeler and potter. He worked at the William Grueby (1867-1925) Faience Company for a time in South Boston manufacturing tiles and is the only potter known to have produced salt-glazed stoneware at this company, although he also had a brick studio behind his home in South Lincoln with a large kiln in which he fired his vases, as well as pottery tiles and mosaic murals. Repeating animal and fish motifs characterize his work executed in cobalt and black on salt-glazed stoneware. These are unusual materials for art potters and are more commonly seen in utilitarian crocks and jugs. Many of the salt-glazed objects that he made in Lincoln are also unsigned today, although examples of Crook’s salt-glazed work with animals can be found displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C, Historic New England and the Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement in St. Petersburg, Florida, among other art museums across the country.
Furthermore, the dealer told me that he remembered finding this vase years ago in a house in Contoocook, New Hampshire, which is located about twelve miles west of Concord, New Hampshire. Additionally, the vase seems to be decorated below the rim with perhaps cats and is possibly inspired in shape after Asian design, nonetheless, though this is not something that I expected to find yesterday!
Interestingly, in some ways, Crook's wide artistic talent can also be compared to John Bell's (1811-1895) accomplishments in England, which I wrote a story about for the June 2, 2023 issue of Antiques And The Arts Weekly, titled, The Other John Bell: Not A Pennsylvania Potter But London Sculptor: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2023/05/new-research-article-in-antiques-and.html.
Note: For more information about salt-glazed stoneware and American-made art pottery - see a story I posted to this website in 2021 that discusses Susan S. Frackelton's (1848-1932) production in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the late 1800s: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2021/12/outstanding-stoneware-manufactured-by.html.
A Good Example of Russell Crook's Salt-Glazed Stoneware Production
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
No comments:
Post a Comment