Despondency vase

Artus Van Briggle began his career in ceramics at the Rookwood Pottery, but because of respiratory issues, moved to Colorado, where, with his wife Anna Van Briggle, he established his own pottery in Colorado Springs in 1901. The Van Briggles and some other designers produced models from which molds were made, and the vases were then slip-cast in multiple forms. They were particularly noteworthy for their glazes in satiny soft textures in unusual colors, sometimes one or more combine on a single piece. Like many American artists, Artus Van Briggle had traveled to and studied in Paris in the late 1890s and was much influenced by not only the artistic ceramics he saw there, but much of the French art that was on exhibition. Van Briggle’s early work often exhibits the stylistic characteristics of the Art Nouveau, especially in the sinuous curves of the stems on his floral-decorative vases. This “Despondency” vase is noteworthy in that it recalls the brooding sculptural work of August Rodin.