J.A. Bauer Pottery is an American pottery that was founded in

Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missour ...

in 1895 and operated for most of its life in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It closed in 1962. Bauer vases

History

In 1885, John Andrew "Andy" Bauer bought out Frank Parham's Paducah Pottery in Paducah, Kentucky, a pottery whose main products were brown-glazed, hand-thrown wares including crocks and

jug A jug is a type of container commonly used to hold liquids. It has an opening, sometimes narrow, from which to pour or drink, and has a handle, and often a pouring lip. Jugs throughout history have been made of metal, and ceramic, or glass, and ...

s. J.A. Bauer moved his family to

in early 1909, and selected a new site for a pottery. J.A. Bauer Pottery Company was built at 415-421 West Avenue 33 in Lincoln Heights, an area between Los Angeles and

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

. The first products were the same products J.A. Bauer produced in Paducah. Demand from the nursery trade added new products to the pottery's wares including

flower pot A flowerpot, planter, planterette or plant pot, is a container in which flowers and other plants are cultivated and displayed. Historically, and still to a significant extent today, they are made from plain terracotta with no ceramic glaze, wi ...

s, garden ware, and planters. Bauer ringware vase

Louis Ipsen was hired around 1912 as a designer, adding fancy

redware Redware as a single word is a term for at least two types of pottery of the last few centuries, in Europe and North America. Red ware as two words is a term used for pottery, mostly by archaeologists, found in a very wide range of places. Howeve ...

items to the pottery lines. Matterson (Matt) Carlton, an accomplished turner, joined the company producing hand-thrown vases, rose jars, and carnation vases for the nursery trade. In 1922, J. A. Bauer retired and in 1923 died. One third of the company was sold to his daughter Eve, and her husband Watson E. Bockman. The other two thirds was sold to Bernard Bernheim. Bockman became president of the company. By 1928, Bockman resigned and the heirs of Bernard Bernheim, sons Sam and Lynn Bernheim, ran the company. In 1929 W. E. Bockman bought out the Bernheims and once again became president of the company. Bockman hired ceramic engineer Victor F. Houser to develop new glazes. "The introduction of Houser's brilliant new colors on Ipsen's dishes proved a momentous event.", Around 1930, Bauer Pottery introduced California Colored Pottery. Other Southern California potteries producing solid colored

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...

tableware and kitchenware products around the same time period as the introduction of Bauer's California Colored Pottery were Gladding, McBean & Co.'s '' Franciscan Ware'', Metlox Manufacturing Company, Pacific Clay Potteries' ''Hostess Ware'', Vernon Kilns' ''Early California'', and Catalina Clay Products' ''Catalina Pottery''. By 1933, the company added ridged or "ring" dishes, including its distinctive Ringware line, named for the concentric circles that mark the pieces. In 1934, Fred Johnson, Matt Carlton's nephew and an accomplished hand-thrower formerly with the Niloak Pottery in

Benton, Arkansas Benton is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Arkansas, United States and a suburb of Little Rock. It was established in 1837. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 30,681. In 2019 the population was estimated at 36,820. ...

, joined the company. Fred Johnson added new shapes to Bauer Pottery's table and art ware lines. In 1938, Bauer Pottery sought to expand their market to the East coast by purchasing, and converting to a pottery, an old winery in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. W. E. Bockman died before Bauer Atlanta was opened. John Herbert (Herb) Brutsche took over management of the Atlanta plant, and James (Jim) Bockman became the Los Angeles plant's general manager. A line of

art pottery Art pottery is a term for pottery with artistic aspirations, made in relatively small quantities, mostly between about 1870 and 1930. Typically, sets of the usual tableware items are excluded from the term; instead the objects produced are mostly ...

produced in the Atlanta plant was designed by

industrial designer Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactur ...

Russel Wright Russel Wright (April 3, 1904 – December 21, 1976) was an American industrial designer. His best-selling ceramic dinnerware was credited with encouraging the general public to enjoy creative modern design at table with his many other ranges of fu ...

in 1945. The Russel Wright Bauer line was not successful and was discontinued shortly after its introduction. The Bauer Atlanta plant was converted into a sanitary ware production plant, Georgia Sanitary Pottery. In 1962, Bauer Pottery ceased operations; Eva Bockman shut down Bauer Pottery rather than settle a general

labor strike Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the I ...

which began in the fall of 1961.

Revival

Bauer Pottery was revived in 2000 by collector Janek Boniecki in a small ceramic studio outside Los Angeles. The new company introduced a new line, Bauer 2000, featuring pieces based on original shapes and colors from the 1930s and 1940s. Unable to locate any original Bauer dies or molds, Boniecki reverse-engineered the new line from pieces from his own collection and other vintage purchases.

Cultural references

* In ''

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (film) ''The Hand That Rocks the Cradle'' is a 1992 American psychological thriller film directed by Curtis Hanson, and starring Annabella Sciorra, Rebecca De Mornay, Matt McCoy, Ernie Hudson, and Julianne Moore. Its plot follows the pregnant wife o ...

'', a collection of Bauer ring dinnerware is used in the kitchen. * In ''

Mildred Pierce ''Mildred Pierce'' is a psychological drama by James M. Cain published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1941. A story of “social inequity and opportunity in America" set during the Great Depression, ''Mildred Pierce'' follows the trajectory of a lower- ...

'', Mildred uses Bauer mixing bowls. * In the television show '' The New Normal'', Bryan and David's home is decorated with Bauer pottery, and they use Bauer ringware as their dinnerware.

History

Revival

Cultural references

See also

References

Further reading