Wedgwood:
Artistry and Innovation Exhibition
exploring the genius behind English ceramics opens June 7
(Toronto,
Ontario – May 21, 2008) The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is
pleased
to present Wedgwood: Artistry and
Innovation from June
7, 2008 to
July
5, 2009 in the ROM’s Samuel
European Galleries. Exploring the genius
of
Josiah Wedgwood I (1730-1795) through 160 pieces, the exhibition is drawn
almost
exclusively from the Museum’s outstanding ceramics collection, the
finest
in Canada, and highlights Wedgwood’s diverse, high quality products and
business
practices. Epitomizing the Industrial Revolution and modernizing the
English
ceramics industry into the 21st century, Wedgwood set the standard for
a
firm that remains one of the most important manufacturers of ceramics in
the
world.
“Not
unlike today’s industrial capitalists, Josiah Wedgwood devoted his
energies to innovations in a
long-established
trade,” says Dr. Peter Kaellgren, European Curator in the ROM’s
Department of
World
Cultures. “The exhibit features many Wedgwood products and designs
created in the time of
Josiah
I as well as innovative contemporary creations, which together continue to
influence ceramics
today.”
Along
with business partner Thomas Bentley (1730-1780), Wedgwood was clever not
only in
discerning
trends but also in marketing his products. He promoted his ceramics
through English
Ambassadors
at European courts and, from 1774, through French and English language
catalogues.
Sales
were further increased through new designs and steady consumer interest
maintained by altering
products
while continuously improving manufacturing methods.
“Wedgwood
successfully experimented to improve products and develop new lines of
English
ceramics,
often drawing on the popular taste for antiquity, neoclassicism and
vases,” continues Dr.
100
Queen’s Park 416.586.8000
Toronto,
Ontario www.rom.on.ca
M5S
2C6
Wedgwood:
Artistry and Innovation Release Page 2 of 4
May
21, 2008
“Husk
Service” Plate, Queen’s ware
©
Royal Ontario Museum, 2008.
All
rights reserved.
Kaellgren.
“Employing the services of talented contemporary artists and designers,
including a number of
women,
Josiah I created pieces that were both commercially and artistically
successful. The Wedgwood
factory
has continued this tradition for 250 years, as visitors will see from
examples in the exhibit.”
Born
in 1730, Josiah Wedgwood I, the fourth generation of a family of potters,
spent his youth learning the
ceramics
trade in Staffordshire. He dedicated his inventive energy to developing
high quality, fashionable
products
while striving to improve the manufacturing approach through the use of
skilled workers and the
latest
technology. Opening his first factory, Ivy Works in 1759, he gradually
developed his own distinct
wares.
His marriage to cousin Sarah Wedgwood in 1764 provided funds for Josiah to
erect the Etruria Works,
a
model factory, which by 1769 was the most up-to-date pottery in the world,
complete with workers’
houses,
a church and a school. Josiah invented three new ceramic bodies: Queen’s
Ware (1762), black basalt
(1768)
and Jasper (1774) – each the result of thousands of experiments.
Five
generations of the Wedgwood family continued to guide the factory after
the death of Josiah I. A new
facility
in the village of Barlaston was completed between 1940 and 1949, and
Etruria closed in 1950. With
its
electric tunnel kilns, design studio and workers’ village, the Barlaston
Factory was the most advanced
pottery
in Britain. In 1967, Wedgwood was registered as a public company and its
shares quoted on the
London
Stock Exchange. Subsequently, the Wedgwood Group acquired a number of
other British potteries
with
Waterford Glass purchasing the company in 1987 to form Waterford Wedgwood
plc. Waterford
Wedgwood
has continued many of its original operations but has diversified with
major acquisitions including
German
porcelain factories and the English ceramic manufacturing group Royal
Doulton including Royal
Albert
and Minton.
About
the exhibition:
When
Queen Charlotte wrote to compliment him on a cream coloured
earthenware
tea set supplied in 1765, Wedgwood sought and was successfully
granted
the privilege of calling it Queen’s ware. A dinner plate from the
Queen’s
ware Husk dinner
service ordered by Empress Catherine II of
Russia
in 1770 is displayed in the exhibit. Visitors to the exhibit will also
learn
that in 1774, the Empress ordered an exceptional service painted with
individual
English views and the green frog emblem of her country estate La
Grenouillère.
The ROM is displaying its rare plate
from a similar service
painted
in full-colour enamels that was likely ordered by an English client
inspired
by the famous Frog Service.
Wedgwood
reproductions of the famous Portland
Vase are well-known and explored in
the display. The
original,
an ancient vase of dark blue glass with an outer layer of white cut in
cameo and made during the
reign
of the Roman Emperor Augustus (27 BC – AD 14), was acquired by the
Dowager Duchess of Portland
in
1783. With permission to copy the vase, Josiah produced exclusive high
quality and limited edition
Wedgwood:
Artistry and Innovation Release Page 3 of 4
May
21, 2008
"Portland
Vase" ©
Royal
Ontario
Museum,
2008. All
rights
reserved.
replicas,
greatly enhancing his reputation in the process. Wedgwood continued making
this model into the
20th
century.
To
create “black basaltes”,
Wedgwood added “car”, a residue from the beds of streams flowing out
of
Staffordshire
coal mines, to intensify the clay’s colour. The basalt body was used to
produce everything from
small
medallions and seals to tea and coffee services, which flattered the white
hands of well-bred hostesses, to
vases
of all sizes in imitation of ancient Greek pottery. Wedgwood still makes
basalt today but has never
created
anything more monumental than the black basalt relief from 1927 showcased
in the ROM exhibit.
Comprised
of 43 pieces and weighing 800 lbs (363 kg), it is indisputably the largest
piece of black basalt in the
world.
Wedgwood
products from the Regency period (1811-1820) to the present are also
represented.
Of particular interest are models inspired by shells, as are the diverse
variety
of dinnerware patterns from the 1870s to 1910, and Art Deco models
designed
by Keith Murray and other Wedgwood artists. Two films run in sequence
in
the exhibition, one describing the history of the company and a second
showing
production
methods at Barlaston.
Other
information:
Wedgwood:
Artistry and Innovation offers a
unique connection to the ROM’s feature
exhibition
Darwin: The Evolution Revolution, currently
on display in the ROM’s Garfield
Weston
Exhibition Hall. Josiah Wedgwood’s eldest child, Susannah Wedgwood
married
Dr.
Robert Darwin. They were the parents of Charles Darwin. The two
grandfathers –
Josiah
I and Dr. Erasmus Darwin - were also close friends and progressive
thinkers with
scientific
and social interests. A version of Wedgwood’s Portland Vase appears in
Darwin,
on display until August 4, 2008.
As
part of the Lunch & Learn Series,
exhibition curator Dr. Peter Kaellgren presents Wedgwood:
Art and
Innovation
on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 and
Sunday, November 2, 2008 from 11:30 am to 2:00 pm.
Participants
will have the opportunity to learn about the history of Wedgwood ceramics,
followed by a
catered
lunch. Cost is $85 for the public (online $80) and $75 for ROM members
(online $70). A ROMLife
course,
Exploring British Ceramics,
will take place on Wednesdays,
from October 22, 2008 to November 26,
2008
from 2 pm to 4 pm. Brian Musselwhite, Assistant Curator of the European
Collections at the ROM,
will
explore ceramic decorative techniques including slipware, hand painting,
transfer painting and
lithographic
decals. This hands-on workshop is offered with a guided tour of the
current exhibit. Cost for
“Sea
Lion”Designed by
sculptor
John Skeaping. ©
Royal
Ontario Museum,
2008.
All rights reserved.
Wedgwood:
Artistry and Innovation Release Page 4 of 4
May
21, 2008
this
six-week course is $180 for the public (online $175) and $160 for ROM
members (online $155).For
more
information to register, please visit www.rom.on.ca, or call ROM Programs
at 416.586.5797.
Visitors
to Wedgwood will
be able to enjoy a variety of companion programming. The ROM’s c5
restaurant
will
offer tea service ($25) and champagne tea service ($35), served Thursdays,
Fridays and Saturdays from
2:30
- 4:30 pm, June 7, 2008 to July 2009. The ROM Museum Store will feature a
series of Wedgwoodthemed
books
and products.
-
30 -
The
Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)
is an agency of the Government of Ontario. Opened in 1914, Canada’s
largest
museum
of natural history and world cultures has six million objects in its
collections and galleries showcasing art,
archaeology
and natural science.
Renaissance
ROM is an ambitious expansion and
heritage renovation project that reasserts the Royal Ontario Museum
as
one of North America's great museums and a leading cultural attraction for
the city, province and country.
Renaissance
ROM continues until 2010 with several new and renovated galleries to be
created at the Museum.
For
24-hour information in English and French, please call 416.586.8000
or visit the ROM’s web site at
www.rom.on.ca
Upcoming
Exhibitions:
October
25, 2008 The Nature of Diamonds,
presented by De Beers Canada
November
29, 2008 Mysteries of Ancient
Ukraine: the Remarkable Trypilian Culture (5400 - 2700 BC)
Upcoming
ROM Gallery Openings:
December
2008 Teck Cominco Suite of Earth Sciences Galleries
Early
2009 Schad Gallery of Biodiversity: Life in Crisis
ROM
tickets now available online: www.rom.on.ca
