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Alfred & Louise Powell:
They Were More Than Wedgwood’s Reflection of the Arts and Crafts Movement
James R Boyle and Keith A. McLeod
Many years before the Powells were painting Wedgwood by hand, giving the pots a hand finished decor, John Ruskin (1819-1900) and William Morris (1834-1896) had been the founders of the Arts and Crafts Movement, a reaction to industrial life and industrial production. Hand crafted work featuring improved decorative designs were the hallmarks of the Arts and Crafts people, who often did their designing or their hand production in rural settings away from the hurley-burley of industrial life. People no longer had to put up with pedestrian design: All commonplace items in the household were to be beautiful, no one need suffer the ugly. All people in crafts were also to be artist: "turn our artists into craftsmen and our craftsmen into artists." Industrial factory produced articles were spurned. The Movement emerged in the 1870s and lingered on until after World War 1, however, the influence continued .
The Aesthetic Movement was slightly earlier and ‘flowered’ in England in the 1860s and 70s; Oscar Wilde was its chief exponent if not the originator. Sometimes the two movements were very blended and mixed, as in their reaction to shoddy designs; however, at other times they were quite distinct, as in the greater acceptance of industrial production by those in the Aesthetic Movement. (They differed in the symbols they chose, the symbol of the Aesthetic Movement was the lily, the symbol of the Arts and Crafts was the sunflower.) The Japanese influences were clearly evident in the Aesthetic Movement as were other eastern influences from Persian to Indian.
Alfred and Louise Powell were direct descendants of the Arts and Crafts Movement but they were grandchildren of the Aesthetic Movement. Their use of eastern motifs and symbolism reflected the distant Aesthetic influences. Their devotion to hand painted ceramics and to free hand painting which provided for individual creativity in the designs and their painting marked them as classical devotees of the Arts and Crafts. How had they acquired their perspectives?
The families of Alfred (1865-1960) and Ada Louise (1882-1956) were both related to household decoration or production. Alfred was the son of a clergyman but the Powell family owned the famous Glassworks at Whitefriars in London; they produced and retailed glass products and they also sold ceramic household goods made for them. Alfred, a somewhat sickly youth, became an architect, a graduate (1887) of the well known Slade. He joined a firm headed by D. J. Sedding, whose fellow students had been William Morris and Philip Webb. While at this firm Powell worked with or met other persons who founded some of the most famous Arts and Crafts centers—Ernest Gimson, Ernest Barnsley (father of Grace), W.R. Lethaby, and Sidney Barnsley. (These four men plus two other former students of Richard Norman Shaw, founded a short-lived furniture handcraft workshop in 1890 and when it failed the Barnsley’s and Grimson went to the Cotswold and established workshops for building furniture.) Alfred went to the continent for ten years ; in 1901 he returned and joined the Cotswold entourage making furniture and doing some architectural work.
In 1903 Powell approached Wedgwood with the idea of applying his designs and skills to ceramics. Powell encouraged Wedgwood to consider the possibility of establishing a studio for handcrafted Wedgwood decoration.
Louise Lessore was the grandchild of Emile Lessore, the Wedgwood free hand decorator, who was a family legend. Two of Lessore’s children ,one of whom was her father, had also decorated small amounts of pottery, although her father, Jules, was primarily a painter. Louise studied calligraphy at the already well known Central School of Arts and Crafts. (One of the founders was W.R. Lethaby.) She became highly skilled and well known, illuminating some of William Morris’ incomplete work, and extending her interests to decorative designs and the painting of furniture for Ernest Grimson. Meanwhile, Powell had been negotiating with Frank Wedgwood about the terms and conditions by which he would work for Wedgwood. In 1906 (April4) Frank Wedgwood offered Alfred the sum of L40 to L50 per annum towards the cost of renting a studio. (Studios cost about L100 per year.)
Louise met Alfred and they married in 1906. The couple set up their studio in 1907 at 20 Red Lion Square in Bloomsbury in London. (They participated at least marginally in Bloomsbury life. Her sister Therese, married Bernard Adeney, who was a part of this group as was her second husband Walter Sickert; they were both painters.)
Wedgwood, as part of the agreement had agreed to supply the blanks that were to be decorated. There was also the understanding that agreed on shapes and patterns would be part of their cooperation, in other words, that Powell would advise on design . The decorated blanks at first were fired in London but after a few years the firing was done at Etruria. They designed the decoration and painted the pieces, Moreover, especially at the beginning, they spent time training ‘paintresses’. They provided dinner patterns and designs for other table ware that was produced in quantity. It was painted by their assistants. The collaboration involved the Powells travelling to Etruria several times each year and many shipments of blanks to London. The result was ‘Powell decoration’---you would not know who actually painted a piece except in those few cases where one of the couple signed a pot.
The studio arrangement proved to be a great success, not only for the Powells but for Wedgwood.; the studio partnership remained until the 1930s and even after that the rather elderly Powells were still painting Wedgwood blanks on a limited scale.
The Powells were a rather
famous couple in the field of decorative arts. They exhibited
at such events as the following: Arts and Crafts Exhibition at Grafton
Galleries, 1906; Hampstead Exhibition, 1914; Decorative Arts of Great
Britain and Ireland Exhibition at the Louvre,1914;the Paris Exhibition,
1925. They also exhibited yearly at their studio.
And if demand is a criterion their works were on sale in Harrods and at Dunbar Hay, an avant garde shop in London. Their students helped keep them Famous and spread their influence. Among their descendants are: Millicent Taplin who was head of the free hand painting Department at Wedgwood for 36 years: Grace Barnsley, who sold Wedgwood she had decorated at her studio; Star (Stella)Wedgwood, M. Hindshaw, and many others.
What did the Powells
design and paint?
~Commissioned Ware: A variety
of plates, chargers, bowls, and other ceramic pieces that people commissioned
them to paint i.e. houses, coats of arms, views, landscapes, famous buildings,
and animals. Their works were largely painted on Queen’s ware. These
are quite rare and are unique. (We do not show one here.)
~Dinner and Dessert Services:
The inspiration behind the designs they did, was often the old designs
from the 18th century design books; however, there were original designs
as well. The patterns tended to be simple, sometimes plain stressing
the depth of the colour, often with a trim of gilt.
~Persian or Rhodian Ware:
all decorative vases and plaques ornately painted in ‘Persian’ or as some
have described them ‘Islamic’ style. The decor is often somewhat
abstract or stylized; the colouring is strong as opposed to pastel..
~Tea and Coffee Sets: introduced
in the 1930s: these bone china sets were done in pastel shades with
gilt stitch-like edging.
~Veronese Ware: what would
be termed today as quite modern. The pieces were done beginning in
the early 1930s, they are somewhat art deco in appearance. Solid
soft-like colours were used highlighted by platinum luster. Limited quantities
were decorated so it is not common.
What is the significance of the Powells? Firstly, contrary to general statements made by some authorities, despite industrialization, there had continued to be some handcraft and handpainting at Wedgwood; the advent of the Powells extensively revived and reinforced the hand painting and the "freehand" painting . Their student, Millicent Taplin, brought their influences and the work at Wedgwood together in a handcrafts department in 1928, and after two years (of probable internal politics), the ‘old’ handpainting department, which Daisy Makeig-Jones had dominated with her Fairyland Lustre, were merged, Daisy departed., and Milly Taplin was the head of the new Department. The freehand painting was established as part of the factory production; it lasted until the advent of World War II.
Secondly, the Powell’s decoration of Queen’s ware gave greater popularity to that body among a fashionably conscious group of the public. (Josiah ! had always said that fashion was the leading criterion for many.) Their work popularized creamware and in the words of persons of the Arts and Crafts Movement ‘beautified common creamware.’
Thirdly, by their position in London and in the art world, they were in the position to introduce many leading artists to Wedgwood. Wedgwood benefited greatly from the artistic connection.
Fourthly, Wedgwood became better at working with outside artists. The Powells were able to compromise sometimes on patterns and designs that had to be modified for reasons of commercial production and costing; Wedgwood learned when to give way to artistic merit. Wedgwood became adept at working with outside studios.
Fifthly, the Powells were able to bridge the several worlds of art because of their respective histories and backgrounds: of the Aesthetic Movement , the Arts and Crafts Movement , the various schools of art, as well as the changes in fashion to Art Deco and then to Modernism. Their work was sold side by side with that of significant artists and modernists like Eric Ravilious, Keith Murray and even Susie Cooper.
Sixthly, they were able to meld the artistic and commercial worlds. They were artists that used ceramics as their canvas. They were able to adapt their art to commercial production and to ceramics--- they were flexible and they were not insecure about the fact that they painted on china.
They were, in short, major contributors to the decorative arts scene for three decades.
These articles were originally published
in Antiques Showcase, where
our articles on Wedgwood are frequently found.
The Antiques Showcase subscription
email is: office@trajan.com
For further information, contact k.mcleod@fcmail.com
