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Adelaide Alsop Robineau (1865–1929) was an American
In 1899, Robineau and her husband launched ''Keramic Studio'', a periodical for potters and ceramic artists that continued in print until 1919. Within a few years, Robineau became the magazine's sole editor. Around the same time, the couple moved to Syracuse, New York, where their house was designed by architect Katharine Budd. Robineau later built a ceramic studio next to the house. She taught china painting and pottery at her Four Winds Pottery School and sold her painted china, watercolors, and ceramics.
Robineau began seriously making ceramics around 1901, by which time she already had a reputation as a china painter. She became convinced that painting over the glaze — then a common technique — was the wrong approach and began to experiment with other procedures. She worked primarily in porcelain, experimenting with American clays to create a true high-fire porcelain. She also experimented with a wide range of forms, decorations, and glazes, with frequent use of multicolored,
File:Vase MET DP116162 (cropped).jpg, Porcelain vase, c. 1905
File:Vase MET L.2009.22.228 (cropped).jpg, Vase with
Complete digitized set of ''Keramic Studio'', hosted by the Smithsonian InstitutionMissouri Remembers Artist Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robineau, Adelaide Alsop 1865 births 1929 deaths American potters Arts and Crafts movement artists Artists from Syracuse, New York Syracuse University faculty American women ceramists American ceramists Women potters 20th-century ceramists 20th-century American artists 20th-century American women artists People from Middletown, Connecticut Artists from Connecticut American women academics American women painters
china painter
China painting, or porcelain painting, is the decoration of glazed porcelain objects such as plates, bowls, vases or statues. The body of the object may be hard-paste porcelain, developed in China in the 7th or 8th century, or soft-paste porcel ...
and potter
A potter is someone who makes pottery.
Potter may also refer to:
Places United States
*Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US
* Potter, Arkansas
*Potter, Nebraska
* Potters, New Je ...
, and is considered one of the top ceramist
Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whil ...
s of American art pottery
American art pottery (sometimes capitalized) refers to aesthetically distinctive hand-made ceramics in earthenware and stoneware from the period 1870-1950s. Ranging from tall vases to tiles, the work features original designs, simplified shapes, an ...
in her era.
Early life and education
Adelaide Alsop was born in 1865 inMiddletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States, Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, it is south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated by English settler ...
. She developed an early interest in both drawing and the then–popular pursuit of china painting
China painting, or porcelain painting, is the decoration of glazed porcelain objects such as plates, bowls, vases or statues. The body of the object may be hard-paste porcelain, developed in China in the 7th or 8th century, or soft-paste porcel ...
. As a young woman she helped to support her family by teaching drawing at the boarding school where she had formerly been a student. During one summer break, she enrolled in the painter William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design. ...
's summer school, her only experience of advanced training in painting and drawing. She later studied ceramics with Charles Binns at Alfred University
Alfred University is a private university in Alfred (village), New York, Alfred, New York. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The ...
and with Taxile Doat.
In 1899, she married Samuel E. Robineau, a French ceramics expert who was at one time editor of ''Old China'' magazine. The couple had three children.
Pottery
In 1899, Robineau and her husband launched ''Keramic Studio'', a periodical for potters and ceramic artists that continued in print until 1919. Within a few years, Robineau became the magazine's sole editor. Around the same time, the couple moved to Syracuse, New York, where their house was designed by architect Katharine Budd. Robineau later built a ceramic studio next to the house. She taught china painting and pottery at her Four Winds Pottery School and sold her painted china, watercolors, and ceramics.
Robineau began seriously making ceramics around 1901, by which time she already had a reputation as a china painter. She became convinced that painting over the glaze — then a common technique — was the wrong approach and began to experiment with other procedures. She worked primarily in porcelain, experimenting with American clays to create a true high-fire porcelain. She also experimented with a wide range of forms, decorations, and glazes, with frequent use of multicolored, opalescent
Opalescence refers to the optical phenomena displayed by the mineraloid gemstone opalopalescent. 2019. In Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language. Retrieved January 7, 2019, from https://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/opale ...
, and iridescent
Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfl ...
glazes. Her mature work shows Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
and Japonisme
''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858. Japon ...
influences in the use of stylized botanical and animal elements. At a time when many noted china painters worked with blanks made by other people, she handled all phases of the process herself, from forming the pots to incising and painting them. Some of the detail work on her pieces was so fine that she employed crochet needles and dental tools to get the desired effect.
Many of Robineau's works are containers, including her most famous work, the ''Scarab Vase'', a tall, incised porcelain vase that took over 1000 hours to make. In 2000, ''Art & Antiquities'' magazine named it the most important piece of American ceramics of the last hundred years.
Robineau taught at both Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
(1920–1929) and the Art Academy of People's University, an institution founded by Edward Gardner Lewis
Edward Gardner Lewis (March 4, 1869 – August 10, 1950) was an American magazine publisher, land development promoter, and political activist. He was the founder of two planned communities that are now cities: University City, Missouri, and Ata ...
in Missouri.
Before her death in 1929, she designed a cinerary urn
An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...
that now holds the ashes of both Robineau and her husband in Syracuse, New York.
Her work is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, Everson Museum of Art Everson may refer to:
People with the surname
* Ben Everson (born 1987), English footballer
* Bill Everson (1906–1966), Welsh international rugby union player
* Cliff Everson, a New Zealand car designer and manufacturer
* Corinna Everson (born ...
, Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the list of largest art museums, largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation a ...
, Cranbrook Art Museum
The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. It consists of Cra ...
, and other institutions.
moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...
, c. 1907-08
File:Robineau-vase-group-1912-13.jpg, alt=Group of porcelain vases at a 1913 Chicago Art Institute exhibition, with Scarab Vase at top center, Group of porcelain vases at a 1913 Chicago Art Institute exhibition, with ''Scarab Vase'' at top center
File:Bottle MET DP130430.jpg, alt=Bottle, 1926, Bottle, 1926
File:Vase MET DP130428.jpg, alt=Vase, 1927, Vase, 1927
File:Vase MET DP130429 (cropped).jpg, Porcelain vase, 1928
References
Further reading
* Weiss, Peg, ed. ''Adelaide Alsop Robineau: Glory in Porcelain''. Syracuse University Press, 1981.External links
*Complete digitized set of ''Keramic Studio'', hosted by the Smithsonian Institution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robineau, Adelaide Alsop 1865 births 1929 deaths American potters Arts and Crafts movement artists Artists from Syracuse, New York Syracuse University faculty American women ceramists American ceramists Women potters 20th-century ceramists 20th-century American artists 20th-century American women artists People from Middletown, Connecticut Artists from Connecticut American women academics American women painters