Women, enterprise, craft: Chicago's Atlan Ceramic Art Club, 1893-1923

Abstract

"Organized in 1893 by fifteen of Chicago's premier female china painters, the Atlan Ceramic Art Club acquired a national reputation and maintained its high standards for thirty years. The abstract style of overglaze decoration developed by Atlan Club members and applied with superb technical skill brought regional, national, and even international recognition as they pioneered the study of appropriate designs for china and a new abstract style of conventionalized overglaze porcelain decoration in America. Their skillful application of historic ornament to modern porcelain shapes-radical and "modern" at the time-encouraged experimentation, while their insistence upon technical excellence demonstrated the value and rewards inherent in perfecting one's proficiency in painting and design. Although the club's utopian dream that conventional ornament would be adopted as a national style was never realized, its members succeeded in establishing its appropriateness on ceramic forms as a new art medium for the American Arts and Crafts movement." -- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Introduction -- 1. A few of the "better artists" -- 2. "Ceramics their fad" -- 3. The second exhibition -- 4. The Art Institute of Chicago -- 5. Only the current year -- 6. Adopting a new style -- 7. Preparing for Paris -- 8. International recognition -- 9. A busy exhibition schedule -- 10. The first decade -- 11. Pottery and art crafts -- 12. Renaissance -- 13. "This brand of ecstasy" -- 14. Director for life -- 15. Unfazed by World War -- 16. Nurturing new members -- 17. The beginning of the end -- 18. A grand finale -- Appendix 1. Members of the Atlan Ceramic Art Club, 1893-1922 -- Appendix 2. 1918 Atlan catalog.