*Van Briggle* Art Pottery Triple Bud Vase with a Violet Bright Bluish Purple Unique Ming Glaze. EXCELLENT CONDITION! MEASURES: 7" x 6" x 6". Sold As Is! Please Look At Pictures! EXCELLENT ITEM! PLEASE WAIT FOR INVOICE!Established in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1901 by Artus and Anne Van Briggle, the Van Briggle Art Pottery is the oldest continuously operating art pottery in the United States. Artus Van Briggle had a significant impact on the Art Nouveau movement in the United States, and his pottery is foundational to American Art Pottery. The Art Nouveau style favored by its founders continues to influence the pottery's designs.
 
Artus Van Briggle settled in Colorado Springs in 1899 after establishing himself as a notable artist with the Rookwood Pottery of Ohio. With Anne Louise (née Gregory), his new wife, Artus began exploring the Art Nouveau style in their pottery creations, drawing awards and accolades from the American and European art communities. Although he was a talented painter who had displayed and won awards in Europe, from 1899 until his death Artus devoted himself almost exclusively to the craft and art of pottery. Van Briggle's Art Nouveau designs and distinctive matte glazes were awarded high honors from prestigious sources, including the Paris Salon, the Saint Louis Exposition, the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, and the American Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Boston.
 Born to artistic parents on March 21, 1869, Artus Van Briggle had an early introduction to painting using materials found about the home. The Van Briggle family lived in Ohio, one of America's hotbeds of ceramic design. At the age of 17 he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he decorated china dolls at the Arnold Fairyland Doll Store, while attending his early art studies at the Cincinnati Art School. After a stint at the Avon Pottery where he was introduced to the ceramic arts, Artus took a job at Rookwood Pottery; there he excelled at hand-painting designs. His skill and talent were recognized by Rookwood founder, Maria Storer, who became his benefactor, even sending him to France to study art at the Académie Julian in Paris.
 
In Europe, he was exposed to styles of art and became infatuated with an early matte glaze from the Chinese Ming Dynasty; a type that was lost to history. Artus also met his future wife, fellow American student Anne Lawrence Gregory, an accomplished artist in her own right. Finishing their Paris studies in 1896, they returned to America. Artus resumed his work at Rookwood and also started sculpting and experimented with recreating the lost Ming Dynasty glazes.In 1899, struggling with health issues due to tuberculosis, Artus left Rookwood and moved to the drier air of Colorado Springs, Colorado. In Colorado, he pursued his own styles of pottery, centered around the Art Nouveau movement, and to continue his research on the ancient matte glazes that had fascinated him in Paris. After two years of trials and experiments a matte glaze was perfected. One of the matte glazes perfected by Artus was the matte blue glaze, based on an ancient Chinese process that had long been lost to history.
 
Artus opened Van Briggle Pottery in 1901 and was joined by Anne Gregory, who took a position as a high school art teacher in Colorado Springs. In 1903, Artus Van Briggle was appointed First Director of the Department of Art and Design in Colorado College, succeeding Louis Soutter, a Swiss artist (born in Geneva, Switzerland) he met in Paris in 1895.
 
In 1902, Anne and Artus were married, and she devoted herself to their pottery; she created designs and collaborated in all aspects of the enterprise with her husband. Late 1902 brought Van Briggle awards for his glazes and designs in Art Nouveau from the prestigious Paris Salon; he was now an accepted artist. During their early years, Artus and Ann established hundreds of Art Nouveau styles of pottery under the Van Briggle name. The Despondency vase won Van Briggle wide acclaim and first place at the Paris Salon in 1903. A display at the 1904 Centennial Exhibit in St. Louis won Van Briggle more awards and greater international fame.


The Van Briggle Pottery Studio closed in spring 2012.
-------------