Conclusion
Between 1870 and 1920 hand-painted ceramic decoration was applied in a variety of
different production contexts. The purposes and resonances or meanings differed and
evolved among the producers and consumers. Decorative ceramic wares that had
been bought for everyday domestic use or as a bibelot changed in function and
significance in response to social and cultural conditions. Nostalgia and identity are
often enmeshed, as social identity or class draws on the existence or creation of an
inherited past.
The Industrial Revolution had benefited Britain’s position internationally and had led
to an expansion in the availability of consumer goods. The social structure of Britain
changed dramatically during the nineteenth century and by the 1880s over eighty
percent of the population had become urbanised and distanced from their rural
heritage. Authors such as Cobbett and Ruskin as well as Morris, but also popular
literature such as Merrie England by Blatchford criticised the decline in living and
working conditions of the urbanised society. Popular contemporary art and literature,
such as the paintings of Miles Birkett Foster, George Eliot’s Middlemarch or the
Wessex novels of Thomas Hardy, as well as social commentators, drew attention to
the negative aspects of industrialisation and promoted an idea of a rural idyll and a
moral and cohesive society with folkloric practices and traditions. Where no traditions
of practice or dress existed they were created in order to promote particular local
identities or aspirations to nationhood.
Despite the expansion of industry, both craftsmanship and quality in manufacture had
deteriorated. Government initiatives sought to improve design and ‘taste’ through
education. The writings of John Ruskin and William Morris paid particular attention
to rural self-sufficiency and the hand-made or hand-finished interior decoration. They
promoted the recovery of craft practices and workshop environments in order to
restore fulfilment in work and establish beneficial working conditions. Through
writings and exhibitions they became a significant influence in the production and
consumption of hand-made goods.
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The market for consumer goods had been expanded to satisfy the demands of a
middle class, which had emerged in the nineteenth century, distinct from the rank of
aristocrat or labourer. In order to establish a place in the evolving social hierarchy
they adapted and adopted a range of moral values and social practices that
differentiated them within the social structure. These shared class mores created
particular gendered differences and constrained women’s position and activities. The
concept of ‘separate spheres’ for men and women has been questioned by recent
historians as being created in a period of post-Victorian retrospection. Rather than
being confined to the ‘domestic sphere’ many ‘redundant’, unmarried women resisted
the male dominated society. For those who undertook the ‘respectable’ activity of
china painting and entered their work in the exhibitions organised by Howell and
James between 1876 and the 1890s there was opportunity to achieve recognition
without losing the virtuous status denied to a ‘working woman’. Issues of gender
identity or class status were not evident in the exhibition layout, competition or
newspaper reports and the distinction between amateur and professional decorators
was equally elusive. The exhibitions were, however, dominated by female entrants
and therefore, despite the few entries by male decorators, participating women artists
were not challenging the divisions and expectations of the wider society.
One
distinct element in distinguishing the identity of the china painters was in their choice
of motifs or patterns. Male decorators exhibited designs that reflected gendered
expectations and interests, such as sailing ships, landscapes and classical themes, with
little reference to contemporary artistic movements. In contrast, women submitted
depictions of flowers and floral motifs. However, female entries also included
portraits of women and children and those illustrated in the contemporary press show
a high level of skill. Included in both flower paintings and portraits were references
to the ‘modern’ Aesthetic Movement, indicating that some women were prepared to
ally themselves with fashionable trends rather than traditional and conventional art
styles.
Despite William Morris’s references to utility and beauty, the Arts and Crafts
Movement did not largely concern itself with the production of necessary or
decorative everyday ceramic objects in most households. Alfred and Louise Powell,
as proponents of the Arts and Crafts Movement endeavoured to bring better and more
satisfying working conditions for the paintresses of Josiah Wedgwood and Sons
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through the return to hand painting and the introduction of new designs. Few of the
paintresses that they trained at Wedgwood achieved significant individual status. In
any case, the work of repetitive free hand decoration was as arduous and ‘mind
numbing’ as the practice of tinting transfer printed patterns. Alfred Powell’s free
flowing patterns referenced the Arts and Crafts Movement’s interest in natural forms
that by mid twentieth century were considered outdated. In contrast Louise Powell’s
renewal of the hand painting of the eighteenth century Wedgwood patterns, were
perceived to be part of an English heritage, encouraged a nostalgia for the seminal
years of the Wedgwood pottery and the ‘Old Wedgwood’ patterns remained in
demand well into the twenty first century.
A study of potteries in other areas of Britain revealed a different use and emphasis on
the importance of hand-painted decoration. The products of the Fife Pottery and the
Aller Vale Art Pottery promoted the idea of strong local associations and became
markers for identity and nostalgia. The hand-painted characteristics were significant
in their marketing. The Wemyss ware produced in Scotland became a metonym for
the long ancestry of the Fife Kingdom and the Wemyss clan, but the range of handpainted rose and floral motifs, were largely sold through high-status London china
merchants. For the buyer therefore there was identity with class, taste for
contemporary items and Scottish heritage. In contrast the thistle, heather and
cockerels have a folkloric characteristic and may have been sold locally as souvenirs
to those Victorians travelling to Scotland in search of nature and natural scenery. The
popularity of Scotland as a tourist destination was also enhanced by the frequent visits
of Queen Victoria to Balmoral, and thus purchase of Scottish referenced items
indicated empathy with Royalty.
The motto ware produced by Aller Vale in Devon became popular with the new
middle or working class tourists seeking a memento of a holiday. The authenticity of
the souvenir is often in the perception rather than the actuality. The naïve handpainted motifs of sailing boats and cottages referenced the rural and maritime heritage
of Britain. Although the decorators remained unknown to the buyer, the hand-painted
characteristics suggested authenticity and gave a virtual connection with an individual
decorator. The nature of the authentic in hand painted ceramic souvenir, whether it is
the location of production or the style of the motif is largely unimportant. The item is
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validated provided the buyer believes it is original, or condones the illusion in order to
support his or her own notion of reality. It was this belief that Doulton’s exploited in
the sale of their ‘Series’ ware, where an facsimile signature of Charles Noke was
added to transfer printed decoration of continental locations.
New hand-painted designs were introduced at the Llanelly Pottery, South Wales, in
about 1877. Many were believed to have been unique to the pottery, but this research
has shown that they were copied or adapted from wares produced in Scotland, Bristol
and Devon. However, this lack of originality does not detract from their modern day
worth, as it is the particular identification with Llanelli that adds value in the
collectors’ market. In the period 1877 to 1920 the pottery in Llanelli was competing
with products from the mainstream ceramic producers in Stoke-on-Trent. Handpainted ware was produced for the local and some foreign markets as new and
original items in contrast to the transfer printed ware, which dominated the market.
Welsh efforts to counter English influence and governance were heightened following
the publication of the ‘Blue Books’, a report perceived as critical of Welsh education
and morals. However, English and England remained pre-eminent. Goods made in
Stoke-on-Trent were considered superior to Welsh goods and some Llanelly Pottery
was marked ‘England’ to widen its marketability. It was the efforts of the Welsh
Industries Association, based in London, which encouraged the pottery to promote its
Welsh identity. At the time of its original production Llanelly Pottery was sold
cheaply through local markets and fairs and was not highly regarded. It was not until
the 1960s when publication of a book about the Pottery coincided with renewed
interest in the promotion of a separate national Welsh identity that the ware became
collectable. Llanelly Pottery, published in 1968, described not only the various
shapes and styles, but identified two decorators of hand-painted items. The inference
that a particular style of hand-painted plate decoration, a cockerel, had been the work
of solely one paintress, Sarah Roberts, became particularly significant to collectors or
owners of individual plates. The cockerel motif, later copied by a local Llanelli
furnishing firm for a commemorative gift, has no particular Welsh or Llanelli
association. However, the hand-painted cockerel plates, whether original or a later
facsimile, are highly evocative for those who identify with the town.
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Hand decoration of china, even when carried out in industrial contexts, retains its
domestic and personal nature. In a period of particular social and cultural disruption,
hand painting provided opportunity for individual self-expression and identity as well
as being believed an authentic link with national or personal heritage. The importance
of hand painting in ceramics into the twenty first century is evident in the continued
use of the practice in the commercial environment, when ever-improving mechanical
and technological designs could have eliminated it.
This thesis has shown the differing ways in which identity and nostalgia were created,
found or expressed through the ephemeral ceramic objects manufactured in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The aesthetic appreciation of the handmade, hand-painted unique object, linked to traditional craft practices encouraged by
the Arts and Crafts Movement, was absorbed indirectly into commercial manufacture
and consumption. The desire for evident traces of individual involvement in
production and positive reception of imperfections, both of which equated to
craftsmanship and tradition, were parallel with the work of the emergent studio
potters who identified with and sought to recover “traditional craft lore”1.
The works of potters such as Bernard Leach and William Staite Murray were however
soon regarded as ‘museum pieces’ and thus removed from the ‘everyday’.2 Their
work does not encompass the personal references that evoke nostalgia or establish
identity in the same way that simple seaside souvenirs or Welsh cockerel plates can.
Hand-painted decoration represents a link with tradition and time-honoured craft
practices. Although ‘difference’ is a recurrent aspect in each of the case studies, it is
allied to traditional practices or historically based national and personal identities.
Nostalgic recollection differentiates current circumstances from past events or
occurrences but in doing so creates a bond with the past. National and individual
identity is formed only by being different from other similar groupings but is often
based on shared, real or imaginary, cultural backgrounds or traditions. Each piece of
hand-painted china is, or in the case of facsimile is believed to be, unique and
different from every other. In the chosen case studies, the motifs are derived from
traditional designs or images and thus linked to a recognised shared past.
1
2
Author’s Preface, Bernard Leach, A Potter's Book (London: Faber and Faber, 1940, reprinted 1977).
"Times Art Critic - Industrial Art - Whitworth Institute Exhibition," The Times 1924. p. 17
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Another occurring aspect is ‘authenticity’. In both nostalgia and identity it is a key
factor. However, it is not the actuality of authenticity rather the belief in it. Nostalgic
recollection emoted by a smell, a taste an un-regarded object, can be partial even
entirely false. However, the emotional response is validated by the idea of its
genuineness. Identity is a fluid concept, national or personally evolving and
responding to the social and cultural conditions. It can be based on individual or
collective ideas of heritage, which are established or reinforced through the material
culture. Identity can be fabricated to conform to peer group or superior expectations.
As with nostalgia, so long as it is believed in, it is valid.
A ceramic object, which is believed to be hand-painted, becomes a unique artefact
and virtual link with the decorator. In some cases the supplier and the buyer collude in
the belief in authenticity – the genuine heritage experience, the genuine Scottish
pottery or genuine tourist souvenir. It is the belief that validates the experience or
memory. Value is not measured solely in financial terms but in the relationship with
and support of personal and national identity. In the twenty first century, a veneration
of a pre-industrial nation can be seen in the increase in the heritage industry and
national fascination with period costume dramas3 but also in the individual and
personal reverence and worth attributed to single simple hand-painted china wares
and ornaments which become imbued with real or mythic local and national identity.
Cranford, a TV adaptation of Mrs Gaskell’s novels attracted an audience of over 7 million viewers in
December 2009.
3
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Leach, Bernard. A Potter's Book. London: Faber and Faber, 1940, reprinted 1977.
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