Carlton Ware was a pottery manufacturing company that manufactured hand-painted household pottery in lofty Art Deco styles throughout the 1920s and 1930s. It produced promotional items for Guinness. Carlton Ware focused on the ornamental giftware end of the household pottery market for the major part of its career. As part of innovation and development, the company introduced new production methods where the decal and hand-painting work was incorporated into high-glaze substrates in the 1920s. The necessity to pass on increasing labour and fuel costs critically affected the aptitude of Carlton Ware to keep manufacturing sophisticated hand-painted items. It was on this note that the company then focused more on novelty items until its downfall.
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Albert Tucker was interested in art from a very young age. He had a premonition then that he would become an artist. But to help supplement the family income, he left school and worked as a house painter, where he developed lead poisoning. Albert turned towards Communism when he worked for a commercial artist; he felt exploited. Albert then left the company, and with a group of like-minded artists, formed The Angry Penguins. During and after World War II, casualties from both sides of the war had a traumatic effect on him. The same can be said of the deaths of those he knew as he made portraits of them.
The telephone evolution has come a very long way through history and is probably yet evolving. From the need of communication to having aesthetically pleasing devices, the various designs of telephones emerged to fit the need of the time. Antique Telephones can be said to have become a major collectable at least 80 years after they started being produced and exhibited, meaning that the Candlestick Telephones were the first set of Antique Telephones. Although, even relatively newer designs are considered as collectables because of their archaic and unique designs. Special designs that were beautifully crafted in the past eras, and later became obsolete, were kept and preserved as memoirs by individuals and museums.
Bronze Antiques thrive for their durability, and are highly priced and valued collectables that are associated with prestige. Bronze has been used for centuries to make vital basic implements, platters, parts of furniture, figurines, axes, coins and medals, musical instruments, plaques, and other artefacts. At some point in history, bronze figurines were melted and used to make ammunition and weapons for war. Bronze being tougher than other formerly used materials like copper and stone was a better choice for sculptors, builders, armour makers and bronze smiths. Bronze Antiques have been collectables of high value. Having Bronze Antiques is a thing of pride even for elites and royals.
Leonard Lumsden Grimwade and his elder brother, Sidney Richard Grimwade founded a company that produced an English brand of earthenware and fine bone china tableware, later known as Royal Winton. The natural talent the two brothers had shown for pottery led to the start of the business. Their Chintz pattern designs, which made the company very successful, first appeared in 1928. Over their decades of success, Royal Winton had produced over 60 Chintz patterns while exporting to the USA and most Commonwealth nations. Despite all changes the company had undergone, they remained steadfast to beauty, quality and design which attracted buyers from around the world.
Rugs are a thing of beauty, especially the nicely coloured and patterned rugs. They can be used as pieces of furniture or ornaments. However, in past times, they were quite functional to the people of the Asian regions. These rugs were known with the nomads of Southern Asia who made rugs just for their own use for comfort and for warmth from the wool of their herds. Eventually, from the 15th century when designs changed, rug making became commercial and ways of production changed. Rugs have become antiques and they are valued for their intricacies. Older pieces can still be found in museums today.
Bow porcelain factory was an English soft-paste porcelain factory founded by Thomas Frye. He was a talented Irish engraver alongside his partner, Edward Heylyn. Bow factory rivalled the Chelsea porcelain factory, the two of which were the first in England. Bow made some quality cheaper sprigged tableware in white. Imitating imported Chinese wares, the tableware came in blue and white porcelain with floral underglaze decoration. Just like other factories around the globe, the Kakiemon style of the Japanese export porcelain was also trending at Bow. While some Bow figures imitated Chelsea models, many more imitated Meissen. Following the Bow factory’s rapid expansion, they had become the largest English factory of its time.
Comics are not only pieces of entertainment but over the decades, they accrued in value as they got older. People collect comics for various reasons, from completing a series to just having them as a keepsake for nostalgia. Instead of going out of fashion, they became collectable and pricey antiques. The existence of comics dates as far back as the 1930s, making them antiques by definition. However, some comics are not necessarily over 80 years old, yet still, fall in this class and are usually referred to as vintage comics. Preservation of legendary authors and artists, their memories and their works is a milestone achieved by preserving the comics.
Roger McLay was not only a designer; he was also a builder. He used to build the designs that he made himself. At his apprenticeship, McLay learned lithography, a printing method, which was his first foray into design. McLay got interested in industrial design when he was on his way to Europe to join the RAAF. He had a stopover in New York where he saw, in one of the museums, a display of the famous Studebaker motor car by industrial designer Raymond Loewy. Roger McLay may not be as prominent a figure as some of his contemporaries, but he did leave his mark on the Australian design landscape.
Frank Hurley had quite an adventurous life. Right at the age of thirteen, he ran away from home when he got involved in an incident with his teacher. His passion for photography was born when he was employed as an apprentice fitter. However, this same passion caused him to lose his job. He met and went into business with a commercial photographer when he returned to Sydney. Frank had a reputation of putting himself in the line of danger for a good shot. His real adventure, however, began when he undertook expeditions to the Antarctic, one of which was the famous expedition with Ernest Shackleton on the Endurance.
Formerly known as Wileman & Co, Shelley Potteries was best known for its fine bone china “Art Deco” ware of the inter-war years and fashionable teaware of the post-war years. Tableware was their major output although they had many china and earthenware products. Shelley pottery began in the poor districts of Foley in the potteries. Its production of dinnerware in china became really successful, mainly in the USA. The mid-twenties period seemed to be the most successful for Shelley with their varieties of Deco shapes. Shelley promoted their products in magazines, newspapers, catalogues and cinemas. It remained a family business until 1966 when Allied English Potteries took over.
Claude Pannka was among the visual artist and Aboriginal painter of Central Australian Landscape. He was also the original watercolour artist whose vibrant and bright colours were easily exclusive. This man was adjudged one of the best students of Albert Namatjira, who taught him how to paint. As a matter of fact, Claude Pannka’s style of painting followed the familial spirit of Namatjira, where colours shift fast and merge continuously with another colour to form visual tone before the eyes. With this painting style and practice, Claude Pannka knew where he was going precisely, immediately the composition began. It was like he was just transliterating country into paint.
The Australian label TH Brown, founded in 1911 by Thomas Howard Brown, became an exemplar of Mid-Century Modern style especially with the work of designer Peter Brown, one of Thomas Howard’s sons. The company’s pieces quickly became popular and in high demand. Despite a change of hands and a few decades away from the spotlight, TH Brown pieces have never gone out of style. The focus of Mid-Century Modern style on clean lines and functionality make it timeless and easy to incorporate in modern settings. The combination of style, quality and functionality make TH Brown an enduring name in classic yet modern, classy luxury furniture in Australia and around the world.
Brett Whiteley won his first art prize at age seven. Early in life, his works were influenced by Welsh painter Augustus John and sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein. Brett was a very talented artist, winning several awards, and his inspirations ranged from bathing to animals and even mass murderers. His personal life was just as intriguing. He suffered from drug addiction, which ironically appeared to only enhance his art. He also had quite a few affairs. Both of which led to his wife filing for divorce. And tragically, his drug and alcohol addiction ultimately led him to his demise. Nonetheless, Brett’s work saw him win awards and continued to sell for vast sums after his death.
Nobody knew the Namatjira family, but with the beginning of the watercolour movement, which Albert Namatjira was one of the founding fathers, the family’s name is one of the household names across the world. As a result, the family is doing everything possible to uphold the name. Despite the fact that Albert Namatjira died as a broken man, his family is now enjoying the legacy and goodwill he left behind as a result of the copyright returned to them after many years of long struggle and injustice. The restoration of this copyright will ensure that the Namatjira family and the tradition of the watercolour movement in the Western Desert lingers on.
Charles Baldwyn stands out among talented artists and designers of the Royal Worcester for his very special talent and his love for natural history. Young Charles started work at the Worcester Porcelain factory sweeping floors. But being a sociable chap, he gained opportunities to cycle around the countryside with the company’s cycling club and study wildlife. While Charles worked for the Royal Worcester, his speciality became swans in flight as well as birds in moonlit scenes and no one else was permitted to paint swans in flight. His works are highly prized and can be very expensive. His talent lives on in the Worcester pottery he designed and painted, as well as his card and canvas work.
George Nelson is considered one of the most important American designers of the 20th century. He was inspired to study architecture after he saw exhibits from students when he entered the Yale School of Architecture building to get out of a rainstorm. Although best known as an author, teacher, and as Director of Design for Herman Miller, George Nelson also designed furniture. One of his best-known designs was the Coconut Chair, a lounge chair that looked like, as Nelson puts it “a coconut cut up into eight sections”. He was more interested in the process that led to the end product than in the end product itself. Nelson’s greatest contribution was his introduction of modernism to American society.
Australian art is referred to as any art concerning or made in Australia or created by the Australians who are residing abroad, right from the ancient periods till today. The foremost artistic representations of the Australia scene by European artists were generally natural history illustrations, portraying the unique fauna and flora of the land for scientific functions, and the landscape of the coast. All the drawings of the colony were fashioned and created by soldiers and condemned artists, until the turn of the century. The genesis of a clearly Australian painting tradition was regularly linked with the Heidelberg School of the late 19th century.