New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Delaware
Benjamin Franklin said, “leisure is the time for doing something useful.” With a wealth of pottery and tile collections and installations, along with great gardens and art, this region can effortlessly keep visitors “doing something useful.”
Eastern Pennsylvania
Fonthill, Moravian Pottery & Tile Works, and the Mercer Museum, Doylestown, PA
The accomplishments of Henry Chapman Mercer can be explored at three National Historic Landmark structures collectively known as the “Mercer Mile.” An archaeologist, ceramist, scholar, and antiquarian, Mercer’s singular vision created a remarkable legacy, along with some of the finest and most extravagant tilework in America.
Fonthill and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works are located adjacent to one another. Mercer built Fonthill between 1908 and 1912 as his home. The building is an eclectic mix of Medieval, Gothic, and Byzantine architectural styles, and is significant for its early use of poured reinforced concrete. The structure boasts 44 rooms, 18 fireplaces, and more than 200 windows of varying sizes and shapes. The interior walls, floors and ceilings are elaborately adorned with an incredible array of Mercer's own handcrafted Moravian tiles, as well as tiles from around the world that he had collected.
The Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, built in 1912, is maintained as a working history museum. Handmade tiles are still produced in a manner similar to that developed by Mercer, the pottery's founder and builder, who directed work at the pottery from its inception in1898 until his death in 1930.
For more Mercer, the Mercer Museum is just a few minutes away in the center of Doylestown, a testament to its founder’s recognition of the need to preserve the outmoded material of daily life in America before it was swept away by the Industrial Revolution. Mercer gathered tens of thousands of items from the mid-19th century and earlier, built a six-story concrete castle in 1913-1916 to share the collection with the public, and arranged the artifacts in a thematic classification system of his own devising. Henry Ford called it the only museum in America worth visiting.
New Jersey
The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms,
Morris Plains, NJ
Craftsman Farms is the former home of noted turn-of-the-century designer Gustav Stickley, a well-known spokesman for the Arts and Crafts movement who combined the roles of furniture designer and manufacturer, architect, publisher, philosopher, and social critic. Stickley is best known today for his straightforward furniture, sometimes called "mission" or "Craftsman furniture."
The log house, built in 1911, is one of the most significant landmarks of the American Arts and Crafts movement, and the site, which consists of 26 acres of the original 650-acre tract, has been designated a National Historic Landmark.
Stickley viewed pottery as an important decorative art, and period photographs show pottery in prominent room locations. The nonprofit Craftsman Farms Foundation, which operates the site, continues to collect art pottery appropriate to the home.
The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
The Newark Museum has been collecting and exhibiting modern ceramics since 1910, and it is well known for its collection of 20th century art pottery and studio pottery. The museum also holds both earthenware and porcelain New Jersey ceramics spanning several centuries.
The art pottery collection is not always on display, but it will be in its glory later in 2009 when the museum exhibits 100 Masterpieces of Art Pottery, 1880-1930, running September 23, 2009 through January 10, 2010. The exhibition will follow the idea of ceramics as art from the Aesthetic Movement of the 1880’s to its evolution into studio pottery by the outset of the Great Depression. A Centennial Project of the museum, the exhibition will highlight pieces of pottery and porcelain, including American and Native American, as well as European and Asian ceramics.
Currently, the museum is presenting a glimpse of its Lenox collection, in an intimate exhibition entitled The Lenox Legacy: America’s Greatest Porcelain, 1889-2005, open through 2009. The exhibit features highlights of the century–long tradition of Lenox porcelain in the museum's collection, from the first gifts in 1911 to the 2007 donation of the Lenox Archives by Brown–Forman, Inc. The objects include unique hand–enameled porcelain vases and dinner plates, minutely detailed and rare porcelain figurines, and modern designs from the 1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s.
Newark was also a center for fine jewelry making, and the museum has an extensive jewelry collection, focusing on the 1850’s to the 1950’s.
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ
The New Jersey State Museum has partially reopened its facility after major renovations. Their current focus is special exhibitions, including Luster of Lenox, open from April 4 through September 6, 2009
Originally founded as the Ceramic Art Company in 1889, the firm was organized as an art studio, creating one-of-a-kind pieces in ivory china, including painted and modeled vases, pitchers, and tea sets. Pieces of its art pottery were accepted into the Smithsonian’s collection by 1897. The firm struggled financially, but later found success by producing high-quality tableware. In 1906 the company changed its name to Lenox, its founder’s surname. Its dinnerware has included six services for the White House.
This exhibition surveys the work of Walter Scott Lenox and his designers, who strove to surpass their European competitors. The exhibition includes highly decorated objects illustrating both modeling and surface decoration. The installation is augmented by documents such as design drawings, trade catalogue illustrations, and historic photographs from the Lenox Archives at Rutgers University.
Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ
The Trenton City Museum is housed in an 1848 mansion that became the centerpiece of a late 19th century, 80-acre park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The collection focuses on the art and artifacts of Trenton, including tableware, sanitary ware and artware produced in the 19th and 20th centuries by the city’s prolific ceramics industry. The exhibit American Belleek, Cybis & Boehm Porcelain will run April 4 through June 20, 2009
Trenton War Memorial, Trenton, NJ
Opened in 1932 and beautifully restored during the 1990’s, the War Memorial was built as a community performing arts center dedicated to World War I veterans of Mercer County and includes a large theater, ballroom, and assembly rooms. Although a conservative Italian Renaissance design on the exterior, the interior mixes stately design elements with Art Deco details. The tilework includes the large Mueller Mosaic Company glazed tile ceiling of the Memorial Court, and Moravian Tile throughout the building. Be sure to visit the lower level, featuring Moravian tilework in the bathrooms and intricate and whimsical wall-mounted water fountains with a fish motif.
Take the time to admire the pottery and tiles, enjoy the architecture, try the local eateries, and savor the local color and customs. Most of all, enjoy the trip and all the sights along the way.
Thanks!
Sofia Bakis (Allentown Art Museum), Linda Carrigan, Jennifer DeMaio (Craftsman Farms), Joan Dessureau, Ulysses Dietz (Newark Museum), Dorothy Guzzo (New Jersey Historic Trust), Vance Koehler (Moravian), Len Law, Allison McCartney (Newark Museum), Arnie Small, and Allan Wunsch.
Email us!
Do you have a favorite museum collection, tile installation, or pottery historical site? Let us know.
PotteryGetaways@yahoo.com
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Destinations
Check ahead for hours of operation and any admission fees.
Fonthill and Mercer Museums
www.mercermuseum.org
Moravian Pottery & Tile Works
www.buckscounty.org/government/departments/tileworks
The Newark Museum
www.newarkmuseum.org
New Jersey State Museum
www.nj.gov/state/museum
The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms
www.stickleymuseum.org
Trenton City Museum
www.ellarslie.org
Trenton War Memorial
www.state.nj.us/state/divisions/memorial
www.capitalcentury.com/1931
The Flat Pot Tour
Trenton, NJ
Driving tour of nine tile and terra cotta installations.
www.PotteriesOfTrentonSociety.org
Art Corner
The Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA
The museum excels with its collections of French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and early Modern paintings, including Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse, as well as Native American ceramics. The grounds include a 12-acre arboretum. Reservations required.
www.barnesfoundation.org
Delaware Museum of Art, Wilmington, DE
The museum has the most significant collection of Pre-Raphaelite art outside the United Kingdom. These 19th century artists focused on the past, particularly the Middle Ages—before the time of the Renaissance artist Raphael. Their association with William Morris influenced the British Arts and Crafts Movement. The museum has over 150 paintings, drawings, photographs, decorative arts, and illustrated books.
www.delart.org
James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA
The museum, founded in 1988 in the former 1884 Bucks County jail, is home to an outstanding collection of works by Pennsylvania Impressionists and showcases important artists of the Bucks County region.
www.michenermuseum.org
New Hope, PA and Lambertville, NJ
These two art-focused communities are located on opposite banks of the Delaware River. New Hope is part of the 165-mile Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. The two canals of the same name, plus railroads, form the spine to explore the history of anthracite coal mining in the region and its impact on industry, immigrants, and towns. Lambertville is about the halfway point on the 34-mile Delaware River State Scenic Byway, which runs from Trenton to Frenchtown. The Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park also weaves through Lambertville.
www.newhopechamber.com
www.lambertville.org
www.delawareandlehigh.org
www.state.nj.us/transportation/community/scenic/delaware.shtm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Premier works in many areas, plus a collection of 16th – 20th century Dutch ceramics.
www.philamuseum.org
Wharton Esherick Museum, Valley Forge, PA
This extraordinary wood craftsman created sculptures, furniture, and architectural interiors, including his studio, which is now a National Historic Landmark. Reservations required.
www.levins.com/esherick.html
Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia area artists are showcased in this 19th century stone mansion, carriage house, and six acres of grounds nestled in historic Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia.
www.woodmereartmuseum.org
Garden Gate
Chanticleer, Wayne, PA
This 30-acre estate botanical garden focuses on plant combinations, containers, textures, and colors, often relying on foliage more than flowers.
www.chanticleergarden.org
Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA
A great horticultural destination in the region, created in the early 20th century by Pierre du Pont as part of his estate.
www.longwoodgardens.org
Greenwood Gardens, Short Hills, NJ
This 28-acre estate garden has a stunning architectural framework that includes Rookwood faience, Fulper tiles, and Samuel Yellin metalwork. Limited tours during restoration.
www.greenwoodgardens.org
On The Way
From the west (Pennsylvania Turnpike):
Mill Run, PA
Fallingwater
Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930’s masterpiece
www.fallingwater.org
Acme, PA
Stay in Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1957 Duncan House, 15 miles from Fallingwater
www.polymathpark.com
Chalk Hill, PA
Kentuck Knob
Tour Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1956 Hagan House, 7 miles from Fallingwater
www.kentuckknob.com
Harrisburg, PA
Pennsylvania State Capitol
The first floor of this magnificent 1906 building contains 16,000 square feet of Moravian Tile flooring, including 368 mosaics tracing the history of the Commonwealth from the prehistoric era to 1906. A reprint of Henry Mercer's 1908 guidebook describing the mosaics, including a map of the floor, is available from the Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee. Thirty minute guided building tours are available daily.
www.cpc.state.pa.us/cpcweb
www.pacapitol.com/tours.html
From the west (I-80):
State College PA
Palmer Art Museum, Penn State University
Contemporary studio ceramics, including Asian, British, and continental Europe
www.palmermuseum.psu.edu/
From the north (Pennsylvania):
Scranton, PA
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Station
This 1906-08 train station contains one of the most important art tile installations in America: 36 Grueby Faience murals, totaling 1,676 tiles, depicting scenes from the railroad’s route from Hoboken, NJ to Niagara Falls, NY. The building is now the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, 700 Lackawanna Avenue.
www.radisson.com/scrantonpa
Click here to download the article on Lackawanna that was featured in out Nov/Dec 2008 issue of the Journal.
Allentown, PA
Allentown Art Museum
The museum contains a 1914 Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie School room, plus several dozen pieces of Arts and Crafts pottery from a variety of makers.
www.allentownartmuseum.org/
From the north (New Jersey):
New Brunswick, NJ
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University
The museum has a large collection of late 19th and early 20th century French and Belgian posters.
www.zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu
Flemington, NJ
Fulper Pottery kilns
The home of the Hill-Fulper-Stangl Potteries Museum at Mine Street and Stangl Road has closed, but the three kilns from its use as a 1920’s Fulper Pottery factory remain visible.
www.stanglpottery.org/
Princeton, NJ
Princeton University Art Museum
The museum was founded in 1882 with pottery and porcelain donated as a study collection for the new Department of Art and Archaeology. The museum has an extensive and varied collection.
artmuseum.princeton.edu/
From the south:
Brandywine River Valley
The Brandywine Valley National Scenic Byway, extending twelve miles from Wilmington, DE northwestward to Pennsylvania connects a rich landscape of estates, gardens, and museums, including the du Pont family estates of Winterthur and Nemours, the Delaware Art Museum, and a state park for bird watching and trail hiking. Continuing into Pennsylvania are Longwood Gardens, a 1,050-acre setting of gardens and horticultural displays, and the Brandywine River Museum, a mid-19th century gristmill housing the most comprehensive collection of artwork by the Wyeth family and important landscape paintings of the region.
www.byways.org/explore/byways/57779
www.thebrandywine.com
B & B Associations
New Jersey
NJ Bed & Breakfast Innkeepers Assoc.
www.njinns.com
Pennsylvania
PA Tourism & Lodging Assoc.
www.painns.com