Art nouveau at Sevres & the craftsman tradition in America: in the early 1900s, American writers and designers took a close interest in the remarkable art-nouveau designs that were being produced at Sevres. Gabriel P. Weisberg explores the impact of the firm's methods and achievements on American crafts

Apollo, March, 2008 by Gabriel P. Weisberg

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

When Gustav Stickley, editor of The Craftsman, one of the premier American magazine art magazines of its age, published an article entitled 'Latest Ceramic Products of Sevres' in January 1904, he helped to introduce contemporary Sevres ceramics and the large network of young designers who were creating them to a large public audience in America (Figs 3 and 4). (1) Sevres was a foremost centre for design reform; the manufactory was producing a version of art nouveau that, while stylised, remained extremely progressive. (2) Stickley hoped that its ceramics could influence American ceramicists as well as American collectors, equalling the impact that Sevres was having throughout Europe by 1900.

Stickley was making American readers aware of larger issues in the design reform movement by printing in The Craftsman English translations of articles, in whole or in part, that had first appeared in France. Between 1902 and 1904 he published several articles translated from Art et Decoration, a leading French magazine of design reform, on art nouveau and its French inventor Siegfried Bing, and on Rene Lalique. During and after the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, art magazines such as Art et Decoration reported on progressive artistic achievement. For example, among the articles it published was one by E. Baumgart on Sevres. (3) Excellently illustrated with photographs, it revealed the importance of the manufactory's art-nouveau designs and of the young creators who worked there. These included Eugenie Bethmont, Henri Lasserre, Gebleux and Jeanne Bogureau--young ceramicists who were just beginning their careers, unfettered by traditional styles. (4) This and other articles attracted the attention of an international readership, including the perspicacious Stickley, who would have seen the display of Sevres at the Exposition Universelle.

In his 1904 article--which in part reproduced in English material from the pages of Art et Decoration--Stickley continued his support of Sevres. He wanted to document how the 'force and pervasiveness of the new art movement' was affecting the strongest, and often the most conservative, of traditional areas such as the Sevres ceramic manufactory. (5) The article set out to show that since the Exposition Universelle, Sevres had set its sights on becoming a centre of new artistic production; to some it appeared that the manufactory had entered a 'second youth', an idea that meshed perfectly with the theories of art nouveau, which stressed rebirth in the visual arts.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

These ideas were shared by Stickley. By publishing the article on Sevres he hoped to suggest that it was imperative that American readers understand that Sevres was being revitalised on every level: that in order to achieve a rebirth, visualise new forms and designs, and thus produce new objects, it was necessary to organise new laboratories and workshops that would attract younger designers willing to follow a new orientation. Within the Sevres workshops, designers were producing innumerable drawings for vases--some of which were produced--which demonstrated that a reinvigorated range of shapes, new colours and an enthusiastic vigour pervaded the works that the manufactory was producing.

Although this initial article in The Craftsman did not reproduce design drawings--this happened later--the fact that there was an allusion to the availability of drawings being produced at Sevres was of major significance. A selection of some of the drawings preserved in the archives and library at Sevres are reproduced here as examples of the direction that the manufactory had taken to upgrade its production in order to remain competitive. It still remains to be ascertained whether the drawings were made at Sevres or are by designers working elsewhere who brought the drawings to the manufactory for approval. (6)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The January 1904 Craftsman article voiced considerable support for the art-nouvean porcelains produced under the supervision of Alexandre Sandier and Georges Vogt, noting that 'under [their new leadership] the improvements already so marked in 1900 continue to progress'. The Sevres designers had taken to heart criticisms made in 1900 that their colours were too pale, 'so that richer and more vigorous tones appear ... upon its vases'. (7) Sandier, who advocated experimentation during his 20-year period as Director of Works of Art- an era marked by new forms, colours and technical achievements 'must be given considerable credit for bringing Sevres into the art nouveau movement'. Stickley hoped that potential purchasers might obtain pieces from Sevres to go with the furniture and interiors that he was promoting in the United States. Such pieces were also going to have an impact on American ceramic design.

At the time that Stickley was publishing articles on Sevres, he was influenced by the French displays at the St Louis Louisiana Purchase exhibition of 1904. The broad range of new porcelain from Sevres exhibited at this world exposition continued to challenge preconceptions with new designs and varied colours. The American press was very appreciative, (8) An article, 'Fine and Applied Arts in St Louis' in Brush and Pencil, a well-known and sophisticated American art magazine, emphasised the 'effectiveness' of the applied art pieces. (9) It was illustrated by photographs of three Sevres vases designed by Gebleux, Fournier and Louis Pihan; at the end of the essay, a photograph showed Sevres decorators at work on very large pieces in the midst of preparatory drawings (Fig. 1). Stickley visited the Fair in June 1904, giving him ample opportunity to study the pieces in situ, to draw comparisons with other French ceramics and with what he had seen in the past, perhaps even in 1900. There is little doubt that the Sevres on display confirmed his admiration for the manufactory. (10)