The Property of a California Collector The American Arts & Crafts aesthetic is clearly expressed in this remarkable private collection of furniture and art pottery focusing on designs by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries. Housed for many years in one of Wright's four California "textile block" houses, the collection exhibits the kind of clean design, simplicity and harmony that proponents of the Arts & Crafts movement sought to achieve. Among the furniture designs by Wright are several pieces from early commissions, including a reclining oak armchair from the William Martin house of 1902 (lot 351) and a cypress dining table from the Isabel Roberts house of 1908 (lot 352). Later designs are represented by a desk and table from the Imperial Hotel (lots 355 and 354) and a pair of modernist floor lamps from Wright's Storer house (lots 356 and 357). The collector's enthusiasm for the designs of Wright naturally led to an appreciation of other architectural designs of the period, including the Teco wares of the Gates Potteries in Illinois (lots 300-343). With its architect-designed shapes and smoky green matte glazes, the collection of Teco pottery to be offered illustrates the full spectrum of the creative efforts initiated by the Potteries' founder, William Day Gates, in 1900. Today we agree readily with the firm's claims that, "Teco Art Pottery possesses an individuality of its own which marks a new era in decorative arts. Its chasteness of design and harmony of decoration, its new and unique glaze appeals forcefully to the lover of the beautiful." Teco workers, circa 1905 (Courtesy of Erie Art Museum) Teco earthenware pieces on the drying racks in 1905. (Courtesy of Erie Art Museum) TECO William Day Gates, President of the Illinois-based Gates Pottery, debuted a new line of earthenware, Teco, in 1900 at the Chicago Architectural Club in "an exhibit of art pottery." Gates coined the name of the line, Teco, from the first two syllables, respectively, of "Terra" and "Cotta," the town where he established a production facility. Shortly after the success of the 1900 exhibition, the wares became available for retail in 1901. Teco ware resulted from Gates' design philosophy, which was based on the belief that beauty derived from form, rather than from applied decorative ornamentation. To help him create original shapes and forms for his new earthenware line, Gates recruited a number of gifted architects and sculptors, many of whom frequented the Chicago Architectural Club and later the Cliff Dwellers, a club founded in 1907 whose membership consisted of Chicago's best-known artists, writers and musicians. One of the most prestigious architects to design for Teco was Frank Lloyd Wright. Consequently, several Teco shapes were crafted in the spirit of Prairie School architecture. Other Teco forms derived largely from natural subjects such as flowers and plants. Perhaps even more distinctive than the Teco forms is their signature finish -- the green matte glaze, nicknamed "Teco green," that became the veritable hallmark of Teco wares. Having experimented for years with glazes on clay bodies, Gates finally introduced the velvety green glaze on his subtle and sophisticated forms in 1903. When asked why he preferred the green glaze over others, Gates revealed that the green was a "...tone most restful to the eyes and most soothing to the nerves." The green glaze, however, was also suitable for the low temperature of the kiln required by the dense bodies of Teco pottery. After 1912 Gates ceased creating new designs, and production tapered off. However, Teco ware was produced sporadically throughout the rest of the decade and into the early twenties.

AN EARTHENWARE FLOWER BOWL

FRITZ ALBERT, DESIGNER, FOR TECO, CIRCA 1910

Details

AN EARTHENWARE FLOWER BOWL
Fritz Albert, Designer, for Teco, circa 1910
shape no. 317
2¾in. (7cm.) high, 8in. (20.3cm.) diameter
impressed TECO twice

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