A century of ceramics and glass - exhibition of 19th and 20th century dinnerware; Newark Museum, New Jersey - Brief Article

Magazine Antiques, April, 2000 by Allison Eckardt Ledes

In 1923 the Homer Laughlin China Company in East Liverpool, Ohio, was the largest ceramics manufacturer in the United States. In that year it churned out eighty-four thousand pieces a day, virtually all of it for domestic consumption. This is all the more remarkable because by this time the twelve-course Victorian dinner had been scaled down, and, along with it, the need for specific ceramic and glass forms for each bit of food and drink consumed at the table. An exhibition that surveys the everyday wares used in American households between 1880 and 1980 is on view at the Newark Museum in New Jersey until June 18. Entitled Tabletop to TV Tray: China and Glass in America, 1880-1980, it includes some two hundred objects drawn from the collections of the Dallas Museum of Art and the Newark Museum. The show was organized by Charles L. Venable with Stephen G. Harrison, both of the Dallas Museum. It is the first exhibition to survey the enormous range of tablewares used in the United States during that century many of which were made in such quantities that they are still widely available.

The theme of abundance marks the point of departure for the earliest wares in this show. Victorian meals mandated not only copious amounts of food, but also special presentations and an atmosphere of artifice, from the table setting to the display of one's best wares on the sideboard or in the china closet. By the 1920s social conventions had evolved to include things such as buffet dinner parties (necessitating serving pieces), card parties (which included wares decorated with cards and other games), the cocktail party (introducing cocktail shakers, decanters, and glasses designed for specific beverages, as well as hors d'oeuvres platters), and in the 1930s, spaghetti parties (requiring a large serving bowl and individual bowls for the diners). Late in that decade casseroles were invented and became popular because they were easy to make and they were simple to clean up after. The ceramics and glassware made for these changing fashions in eating and drinking were available in a wide range of prices and coul d be purchased in department stores or the newly popular five-and-dime stores. Even into the 1940s American housewives were likely to own two sets of dishes: one for entertaining and one for use by the family. Sets used for entertaining were not as large as they had been earlier (shrinking from services for twelve to services for six or eight).

The growth of the suburb in the 1950s and postwar prosperity brought dining into the kitchen. The dining room, often not even a separate room, was reserved for holiday meals and entertaining. The television became a centerpiece at dinner-times too, mandating the TV tray and meals that were easy to eat on one's lap.

During the 1950s and 1960s Japanese manufacturers exported wares that were less expensive than those made here, eventually driving many American manufacturers out of business. More recently, with 90 percent of American kitchens containing microwave ovens and women comprising 46 percent of the workforce, cooking and dining have undergone more radical changes. Today before patterns of china are produced, focus groups are shown computer-generated designs, and the patterns that are well received are put into production. Dishes are now sold alone, not in sets or place settings, and the traditional five-piece place setting has been reduced to three pieces. However, as the authors of the exhibition catalogue tell us, not all is lost, for "Americans are buying old dishes as never before."

The exhibition catalogue contains contributions by Charles Venable, Ellen Paul Denker, Katherine C. Grier, and Stephen G. Harrison. It is published by Harry N. Abrams and is available either from the Newark Museum bookstore at 800-768-7386, extension 6678, or from the publisher at 800-345-1359.