How Much Do You Know About Ceramic Art?

Ceramic Art: A Summary

• Ceramic art is a visual art made from ceramic materials, including clay, and may include tableware, tiles, figurines, and sculpture.

• Ceramic art is often considered decorative or applied art, but some ceramics are considered fine art.

• Ceramic art has a long history in almost all developed cultures, and often ceramic objects are all the artistic evidence left from vanished cultures.

• Ceramics may be considered artifacts in archaeology.

• Ceramics can be made by one person or by a group of people, such as in a pottery or ceramic factory.

• Different types of clay, when used with different minerals and firing conditions, are used to produce earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, and bone china.

• Surface treatments for ceramics include painting, slipware, and terra sigillata.

• Studio pottery is pottery made by amateur or professional artists or artisans working alone or in small groups, making unique items or short runs.

• Tiles are often used to form wall murals and floor coverings and can range from simple square tiles to complex mosaics.

• Figurines may be realistic or iconic, and modern versions are made of ceramic, metal, glass, wood, and plastic.

• Tableware includes dishes, cutlery, glassware, and serving dishes, and the quality, nature, variety, and number of objects varies according to culture, cuisine, and occasion.

• Glazed and colored bricks were used to make low reliefs in Ancient Mesopotamia, and after the Islamic conquest of Persia, colored and often painted glazed bricks or tiles became an important element in Persian architecture.A Brief History of Ceramic Art Summary

• Ceramics have been used as wall decoration since ancient times, with examples found in the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia.

• Azulejos, a type of painted tile, developed in Spain and Portugal during the Baroque period.

• Delftware tiles were popular in the Netherlands and widely exported over Northern Europe from the 16th century.

• Several 18th-century royal palaces had porcelain rooms with walls entirely covered in porcelain.

• Traditional tiles that remain in manufacture include the small, brightly colored zellige tiles of Morocco.

• The oldest pottery vessels were found in East Asia, dating back to 20,000 years ago.

• Cambodia's pottery dates back to the pre-Angkorian period and includes pinkish terracotta pots, green-glazed pot shards, and brown-glazed wares.

• China has had a continuous history of large-scale production, with the Imperial factories usually producing the best work.

• Japan's earliest pottery was made around the 11th millennium BCE, with refined porcelain developed in the 17th century.

• Korean pottery has had a continuous tradition since simple earthenware from about 8000 BCE.

• From the 8th to 18th centuries, glazed ceramics were important in Islamic art, particularly Persian and Egyptian pre-Islamic traditions.

• Tin-glazed pottery, or faience, originated in Iraq in the 9th century and spread to Europe, including important regional styles such as Hispano-Moresque.A History of Pottery: From Hispano-Moresque Ware to Studio Pottery

• Hispano-Moresque ware of Al-Andaluz was the most sophisticated pottery being produced in Europe in the High Middle Ages.

• Tin-glazed pottery was introduced to Europe in the Italian Renaissance in maiolica.

• Delftware was developed in the Netherlands from the 16th to the 18th centuries, usually with blue painting on a white ground.

• Porcelain was first imported from China into Europe until the 16th century, then imitated in Europe from the 16th century onwards.

• Meissen porcelain factory in Dresden developed a recipe for hard-paste porcelain in the early 18th century.

• Soft-paste porcelain was made at Rouen in the 1680s and was later produced at St. Cloud, Mennecy, and Vincennes in France.

• North Staffordshire in the UK became a major center of pottery making from the 17th century, with important contributions from Wedgwood, Spode, Royal Doulton, and Minton.

• Studio pottery has strong roots in Britain with potters such as Bernard Leach, William Staite Murray, Dora Billington, Lucie Rie, and Hans Coper.

• The Andean region and Mesoamerica had a wide variety of pottery traditions before Europeans arrived in the Americas.

• The Maya Classic Period from the 2nd to 10th century was when ceramic arts flourished.

• Hopi in Northern Arizona and several other Puebloan peoples including the Taos, Acoma, and Zuñi people are renowned for painted pottery in several different styles.

• Mexican ceramics are an ancient tradition, and precolumbian potters burnished their pots instead of using glaze.

• Studio pottery has a strong tradition in the United States with artists working in unique items or short runs, typically with all stages of manufacture carried out by one individual.Ceramics: A Brief Overview

• Ceramics had an important role in human history, with pottery being independently developed in multiple regions of the world.

• American ceramics had a period of growth in the 1960s and continues to be an important part of contemporary art.

• Beatrice Wood was an American artist and studio potter known for her unique luster-glaze technique.

• Robert Arneson was an American artist who created larger sculptural works in an abstracted representational style.

• Ceramics arts departments are found in many colleges, universities, and fine arts institutes in the United States.

• Pottery in Sub-Saharan Africa is traditionally made by coiling and firing at low temperatures.

• The earliest pottery in Sub-Saharan Africa dates back to between the ninth and tenth millennium.

• The Nok culture of Nigeria produced high-quality figural work.

• Ladi Kwali was a Nigerian potter who worked in the Gwari tradition, making large pots decorated with incised patterns.

• Ceramics museums specialize in displaying ceramics, with some focusing on the production of just one country, region, or manufacturer, while others have international collections.

• Outstanding major ceramics collections can be found in general museums, including the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

• The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, has more than 45,000 glass objects.