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ARTISTS
DoulT
In this issue we introduce you to some
of the personalities who’ve made Royal
Doulton the success story it is today.
Sir Henry Doulton
Henry Doulton, born in 1820, was the
second son of John - the founder of the
family ceramic business. Despite his
father’s wishes that he become a cleric
or lawyer, Henry was determined to
be a potter and in 1835 began a two
year training period where he learnt all
aspects of the potter’s craft. He proved
his ability throwing a 20 gallon stoneware
jar when he was 17 years old and is said to
have capped this four years later by throwing
an enormous 300 gallon jar – at the time said
to be the largest in the world. This signalled
the start of many extraordinary achievements and
pioneering developments that meant that in just a few years
the Doulton name was known worldwide.
However, Henry’s legacy is not just the drainpipes
that sanitised the cities of the UK or the many
industrial and sanitary wares he innovated, but the
championing of art pottery and the employment
and technical education of women.
An art school was founded in Lambeth,
London in 1854 and in the mid 1860s Henry
commissioned it to make a series of terracotta
heads of famous international potters to
decorate an extension to the Doulton pottery.
Percival Ball modelled many of the heads,
helped by a young student, George Tinworth
– who joined the pottery in 1866 and went on
royal doulton collectables australia. vol 02 – december 2011
to become one of its most famous artists. Work by Tinworth
and another student, W. Christian Symons, shown at the
1867 Paris Exhibition received a positive reaction from critics
and so in 1871 Henry opened an art department at the
pottery. By 1885 250 artists, designers and assistants worked
in the studios and of these it is said that 240 had studied at
Lambeth Art School.
In the 1870s he bought a share in a factory in Burslem, Stoke
on Trent – eventually owning it outright in 1882. Here he
encouraged artistic freedom, appointing a young and creative
art director – John Slater - and an outstanding general
manager, John Bailey. Burslem, producing tableware, lamps,
and toilet sets as well as beautiful ornamental wares, became
a popular place to work with up and coming artists. They
admired Henry’s success with
salt glazed pottery recognising
that his inspiration and striving
for originality meant that the
Doulton Lambeth art studios
had achieved more than
any other pottery had in the
previous 60 years.
Female artists at work in the studio; The Doulton Lambeth pottery; Dessert dish made from bone china
and painted by David Dewsberry, an example of the exquisite painting at the Doulton Burslem factory.