The
endearing beauty of ceramic art tiles stretches as far back as 10,000
BCE in ancient Egypt, around the time the Egyptians built the pyramids.
From there the use of ceramic tiles spread to ancient Babylon, Assyria,
and the Persian Empire. The ancient Greeks and Romans took this art and
made it their own. The Romans loved tiles. They placed them in large
public spaces, creating some enduring works of art that exist to this
day.
It
wasn’t until the Middle Ages that decorative tiles gained popularity in
Europe. They first spread from Spain, brought there by the Moors from
Africa, and then to neighboring countries. But clay tiles were
expensive, so only the wealthy could afford to use them in their homes.
And since the Catholic Church had lots of money, they ended up in
churches and other religious buildings. Potters painted them with scenes
from the Bible, so as to teach it to the majority of people who couldn’t
read.
Tiles remained popular into the 17th century. Holland became an
important center for decorative tiles through the production of
Delftware tiles, made famous by their cobalt blue and white decoration.
One of the most common uses for Delft tiles was around the openings of
fireplaces.
By the 19th century, English potters had discovered a way to mass
produce all types of tile designs, making them more affordable for the
middle class. Many became family heirlooms, passed down from generation
to generation.
America’s contribution to the history of ceramic tiles began with the
Arts & Crafts Movement. Tiles appeared in the homes of ordinary people,
not just public places. Potters used earthen tones on their tiles which
helped create warm, livable spaces.
Ceramic tiles are one of the oldest forms of decorative art because of
their durability. The color possibilities are so large and the effects
produced thereby are so permanent that there is no other one medium
which is on the whole so satisfactory.
During
the 19th century, builders increasingly used glazed terra cotta, or
faience, on buildings and homes. But as the Arts & Crafts Movement began
to spread, designers and artisans became inspired to move beyond the
hard, glossy, mass-produced architectural tiles and explore the endless
possibilities for adding to the decorative beauty of rooms with the
matte glazes and rich, earthy colors of handcrafted tiles. A new demand
for color in architecture supported their efforts to produce tiles for
walls, floors, friezes, panels, fireplace facings and overmantels,
murals, and even entire rooms.
The variety of decorative tiles produced seemed
endless, from individual tiles, plaques, borders, friezes, and
fireplaces, to large installations and fountains.
In many ways, decorative tiles provided the ideal way for ceramic
artists to express themselves. Individual tiles, previously ornamental
objects that also served a useful purpose, became an artistic medium and
a means of self-expression for the craftsmen. Potters kept the subject
matter of tiles simple and replaced glossy translucent glazes with matte
finishes. Potters made the handicrafted qualities of their tiles
visible.
William De Morgan
British
potter William De Morgan began experimenting with ceramic techniques in
London in the early 1860s. He decorated his tiles and pottery with
animal, plant, and grotesque designs. Galleons and fish were common
motifs, as were fantastical birds and animals. His use of delicate golds,
ruby reds, vivid purple, green, and turquoise blue of Persian ceramics
reflected his early work with stained glass.
His early efforts at making his own tiles were of variable technical
quality—often amateurish with firing defects and irregularities. In his
early years, De Morgan made extensive use of blank commercial tiles. He
obtained hard and durable biscuit tiles of red clay from the Patent
Architectural Pottery Company in Poole, England. He purchased dust
pressed tiles of white earthenware from Wedgwood. De Morgan believed
these tiles wouldn’t stand frost. He continued to use blank commercial
dust-pressed tiles which he decorated in red luster glaze. However, he
developed a high-quality biscuit tile of his own, which he admired for
its irregularities and better resistance to moisture.
De
Morgan was particularly drawn to Eastern tiles. Between 1873 and 1874,
he made a striking breakthrough by rediscovering the technique of
lusterware, marked by a reflective, metallic surface, found in
Hispano-Moresque pottery and Italian maiolica. His interest in the East
wasn’t limited to glazing techniques but permeated his notions of design
and color as well.
As early as 1875, he began to work in earnest with a "Persian" palette:
dark blue, turquoise, manganese purple, green, Indian red, and lemon
yellow. Study of the motifs of what he referred to as "Persian" ware—and
what’s known today as Iznik ware–profoundly influenced his style, in
which fantastic creatures entwined with rhythmic geometric motifs
floating under luminous glazes.
Grueby Faience Company
William
Henry Grueby was one of the earliest craftsmen whose made decorative
tiles. As a young man, he apprenticed for 10 years at the Low Art Tile
Works in Chelsea, Massachusetts, before venturing out on his own to form
Grueby Faience Company in South Boston in 1894. Subsequently, he
received numerous prestigious awards for both his pottery and tiles in
both the United States and Europe. His matte green glaze, emulated by
many, became known as “Grueby green,” a symbol of the Arts and Crafts
Movement.
Grueby first made tiles commercially with his friend Eugene Atwood from
Low’s, under the name Atwood & Grueby from around 1890 to 1894. In 1894,
he formed the Grueby Faience Company with the designer George Kendrick
and business manager William Graves, producing tiles and architectural
terracotta. Grueby’s strengths were his glazes and enamels.
His
tiles soon decorated buildings all over North America. The quality and
good design of the tiles were so good that builders regularly used them
on important commercial and residential buildings as well as hotels,
railroad stations, and the New York City subway system.
Grueby forged a relationship with Gustav Stickley, resulting in Stickley
using only Grueby tiles on his tables and plant stands.
Grueby made his finest faience tiles of molded clay decorated in cuenca.
In this method, potters drew outlines on the surface mixed with a greasy
substance that prevented the colored glazes from mixing. Tiles had
deeply impressed patterns with the compartments filled with colored
glazes.
Rookwood Pottery
Shortly
after forming her Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati in 1880, Maria
Longworth Nichols hired William Watts Taylor as her business manager,
along with numerous talented decorators. Under Taylor’s supervision, the
pottery developed its matte glazes and in 1900 won the Grand Prix at the
International Exposition in Paris. Recognizing the growing interest in
architectural faience, Rookwood established a separate department
specifically for the full-scale production of faience tiles featuring
its award-winning matte finishes. As early as 1903 the company provided
tiles for the New York City subways as well as for upscale hotels in
Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh and New York. By 1910, handcrafted
tiles from Rookwood Pottery dominated the market.
Pewabic Pottery
In
1896, Horace James Caulkins—who owned a dental supply company in
Detroit—hired Mary Chase Perry Stratton to promote his new Revelation
Kiln to the ceramic community. Her success resulted in a partnership
with Caulkins, creating Pewabic Pottery in 1903, where potters made both
pots and tiles by hand. Stratton became well known for her glazes,
specifically her iridescent blues and purples.
The word Pewabic came from the Chippewa word "wabic," which means metal,
or "bewabic," which means iron or steel, and specifically referring to
the "Pewabic" Upper Peninsula copper mine where Stratton walked with her
father. The company, which is still in business, has become well known
for the unusual iridescent glaze covering the pottery and tiles created
in a manner of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Under
Stratton's artistic leadership, Pewabic Pottery employees created lamps,
vessels, and architectural tiles, which have remained a staple. The
iridescent glazes appeared like an oil slick with an incredible
translucent quality and a phantasmagoric depth of color. Pewabic’s art
tiles adorn churches, concert halls, fountains, libraries, museums,
schools, and public buildings.
The popularity of machine-made art tiles had
diminished by the turn of the century and all but disappeared by 1910.
By this time hand-crafted tiles–or those made by machine to appear
handmade–dominated the market. Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, people
used handmade tiles with increasing imagination to decorate the walls
and floors of various rooms in their home, as well as patios, walkways
and gardens. They combined tiles in contrasting colors and in varying
shapes and sizes in the same installation, often with striking results.
Bright colors and geometric patterns were particularly popular. By the
mid-1920s, decorative ceramic tiles became more than symbols of good
taste.
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