European ceramics circa 1900

This richly illustrated catalogue pays tribute to a major donation of over 150 pieces of European art pottery given to the Saint Louis Art Museum by the researcher and collector Dr Martin Eidelberg. Produced across continental Europe between approximately 1880 and 1930, these works bear witness to the extraordinary diversity of forms, surfaces and ornamentation created over a period of fifty years. Many date from the turn of the 20th century and reveal how artists, designers and manufacturers responded to the ‘cult of nature’ through personal expression, technical experimentation and the emergence of modernist design ideals.

The book traces the evolution of European art pottery, offering a rare and nuanced insight into modern ceramics across six regions: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Austria and Italy. It places particular emphasis on the works of French artists – reflecting the movement’s origins in France in the 1870s – through ceramics by renowned artists such as Ernest Chaplet, Émile Decoeur and Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat, alongside works by numerous lesser-known or rarely collected artists.