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Frederick Hurten Rhead, designer Rhead Pottery, Santa Barbara, California 1913–1915 Red earthenware body 19 × 35 inches (panel); 22 × 37¾ inches (framed)
Frederick Rhead’s fish panel may have had its start in the same 1903 Keramic Studio design competition that inspired the peacock series. When juror Hugo Froehlich praised the color harmony of Rhead’s peacock sketch, he added that his fish design lacked this quality. Rhead revisited the fish motif at Weller in 1904 and again two years later as artistic director of Roseville Pottery. His well-known Della Robbia line for Roseville included at least two sgraffito vases covered with fish in relief against a roughly carved ground that was produced in several color schemes (fig. 1).
Fig. 1 - Roseville Sgraffito vase covered with fish.
As Sharon Dale has pointed out in her landmark study of Rhead, a direct influence on the fish tile panel now in the collection of the TRRF is the work of prominent French artist and designer M.-P. Verneuil (1869–1942). Rhead was probably familiar with Verneuil’s many pattern books, especially his Encyclopédie Artistique et Documentaire de la Plante, a four-volume work with hundreds of color plates published between 1904 and 1908, and his numerous articles written for the French journal Art et Décoration. He was certainly aware of American translations of Verneuil’s article on the use of fish as a motif for ceramics, jewelry, wallpaper, fabrics, and other applied arts. Both The Craftsman Magazine and Keramic Studio published Verneuil’s illustrations in their April 1905 issues, including a perch laid out on a proportional grid to assist the designer (fig. 2). Given Rhead’s ongoing relationship as a designer and author with Keramic Studio, there is little doubt that the magazine was part of his library.
Some eight years later at his own pottery in Santa Barbara, Rhead may have had Verneuil’s drawing in mind when he laid out a fish on a four-by-eight tile grid. Rhead gave his perch a more lively serpentine line and its characteristic vertical striping, but he also stylized its spiny fins, clumps of seaweed, and bold horizontal currents to create a unique, decorative design. Verneuil intended artists to take liberties with nature. Referring specifically to his illustration of the perch’s proportions, he advised the decorator “to give the impression, the effect of a specimen, rather than its exact representation. He is, furthermore, free to change the proportions of the species, in view of the effect desired. He can emphasize the characteristics peculiar to the species, in order to distinguish it from others… The perch appears slightly humpbacked and has fins provided with small spurs, and these characteristics will furnish the germ-idea of the decorative treatment; each designer proceeding according to his fancy and the desired result.”
Fig. 2 - Illustration of fish.
On this particular tile panel, Rhead may also have been influenced by a source much closer to home. His uncle, Louis Rhead, was an accomplished designer and illustrator. He was also a knowledgeable fisherman and published several advice manuals on fishing. His depictions of perch could have provided all the “germ-idea” Frederick Rhead needed. Many years after Rhead produced the fish tile panel, his second wife, Lois Whitcomb Rhead, told an apocryphal story regarding her husband’s work habits. Reflecting on his tendency to create many variations on a single motif, peacocks and fish included, she claimed that Rhead once “delayed a dinner party because he was using the main course, a fish, as a model and hadn’t quite finished his sketches when the dinner guests arrived.”
-Susan J. Montgomery, PhD
“My theory about a restaurant is that…it must be closely related to its source of supplies. In no other way can it be fully hygienic and satisfactory….I decided to combine the Craftsman Restaurant with the Craftsman Farms, and to bring my farm products to my restaurant table in New York without the delay, and the consequent deterioration of food inevitable in many handlings by wholesale and retail dealers.”
— Gustav Stickley, 1913
The most popular culinary concept these days is “farm to table”. Locally sourced (the new buzz word) vegetables, poultry, beef, and fish are all the rage. Health conscious individuals, foodies, and critics alike have changed the gastronomic landscape with restauranteurs taking notice and changing where and how food is obtained and creating menus to meet the loud and growing demand.
The concept, however, is certainly not new as Gustav Stickley noted in the above quote. When he opened the doors of Craftsman Restaurant in 1913 atop the 12 story Craftsman Building in New York City he wanted the public to know that the restaurant, like his furniture and houses was designed to meet the highest standards possible. The menu featured photographs of Stickley’s daughter feeding chickens, and prized Holstein cows- a visual reminder that farm fresh ingredients were delivered daily to the restaurant by truck from Craftsman Farms, located in Parsippany, New Jersey, nearly 40 miles from Manhattan. The farm included peach and apple orchards, cherries, melons and other fruits, vegetables, cows, chickens. All of which would appear on the restaurant menu. Using the most advanced preservation and refrigeration techniques of the day he was well ahead of the times in terms of food preparation and safe handling in a world filled with the dangers of germs and disease.
Just imagine what Thanksgiving Dinner would have been like in the Craftsman Restaurant in 1913. Happy Thanksgiving 2015!
In this book, the Two Red Roses Foundation shows its commitment to provide a historic and scholarly record of tiles and architectural faience from its collection. Author Dr. Susan Montgomery, whose research and writing on the subject exceeds expectations, explores in great detail the works of sixteen of the most prominent tile makers of the Arts and Crafts movement and more than 165 objects from the TRRF’s collection. From individual tiles, large and small, to running friezes, wainscots, fireplaces, panels, and entire room and outdoor installations, the book investigates and speaks to the ideals of tile design, craftsmanship, competition and production against the backdrop of the financial challenges and realities the tile makers faced. More than six years in the making, this handsomely designed 360 page catalogue contains hundreds of high-definition color images, historic facts and figures. An extensive bibliography and index makes it a most valuable reference for collectors and scholars.
The manuscript is off to China to be printed and will be available on February 1st, 2016. The Foundation has invited Dr. Montgomery to attend the 2016 Annual Arts and Crafts Conference at Grove Park to participate in a book signing.