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Vase, 1913-17
Designed by Frederick Hurten Rhead (American, b. England, 1880-1942)
Made at Rhead Pottery, Santa Barbara, California
Earthenware
Height: 11-1/2 in. (29.2 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Friends of the American Wing Fund, 1996 (1996.371)
Photo © 1997 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Frederick Hurten Rhead was one of America's most versatile decorative artists--an educator, author, and art director, as well as a gifted potter. He emigrated from England in 1902 and was associated with numerous artistic and commercial potteries throughout his lifetime.
In 1909 Rhead joined the Missouri-based University City Pottery, a short-lived but noble experiment in establishing a pottery as a teaching center and laboratory for innovation in the ceramic arts. He then moved to California to become the first director of Arequipa Pottery, whose founder saw pottery decoration as a way to help patients recovering from tuberculosis.
After leaving Arequipa, Rhead was able to form his own pottery in Santa Barbara, where he had the freedom to produce exceptional work like this incised vase depicting a Southern California landscape.
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