Syracuse, N. Y. became a hub of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the
United States. Gustav Stickley, a furniture designer, lived in Syracuse
and published The Craftsman, a magazine of the Arts and Crafts movement
in home decor. Adelaide Alsop Robineau was a woman who found her entry to
ceramics through china painting, a popular hobby activity of ladies of the
time. Like Maria Longworth Nichols, however, she wanted to get more 'hands
on.' She studied painting in New York City with William Merritt Chase and
later studied the art of ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, New York
with renown teacher, Charles Binns. With the help of her husband, Samuel,
she then set up a small kiln and studio producing an ornate line of superbly
executed work. The Robineaus also edited Keramic Studio (Design
after 1924), the first magazine in the US to focus on ceramic design and
technique. This magazine was very influential in spreading interest in hand
made ceramics and bringing the ideas of Art Nouveau to the US. The work
of Adelaide Robineau was influenced by the standards of William Morris and
the Art Nouveau movement in Europe. The title of this impressive work is
'The Apotheosis of the Toiler,' and she reported that it was the
result of over 1000 hours of to execute completely. The prominent design
motif is the scarab beetle, hence the other name for this piece, the 'Scarab
Vase.' The scarab beetle was sacred to the ancient Egyptians and was a symbol
of the cycle of day and night, of life and death, and of immortality. The
scarab beetle, also called the dung beetle, pushes a ball of dung to close
the entrance to its subterranean chamber each night. As it emerges for the
day, the ball of dung is pushed aside. This came to be a symbol of the emergence
of the sun from the horizon as it rises each morning, and the setting of
the sun as it disappears 'into the earth' each night. The title, 'The Apotheosis
of the Toiler,' refers to all the unknown craftsmen of the world who labor
on their craft, just as she had done in carving this piece. In a sense,
her aim with this piece was to place the craftsman (or woman) in his (or
her) proper place: to elevate craftspeople perhaps not to the status of
a god, but to at least an equal to that of the artist. When the piece came
from the kiln after its bisque firing, it had numerous cracks, and Robineau
was told by her mentor at that time, a French ceramicist, Taxile Doat, that
suggested filling in the cracks with paste and enameling them to match the
glaze. She was amused at the suggestion and decided to repair the vase or
throw it out. She decided to repair it by filling the cracks with a ground
porcelain and glazing them with the original glaze she had used. After a
second time the vase was taken from the kiln in perfect condition. It was
said that perhaps her mentor had in fact learned more from Mrs. Robineau
than she from him. The Scarab Vase would go on to win the grand prize in
pottery at the Turin International Exhibition in 1910.
Adelaide Alsop Robineau, American (1865-1929)
'Scarab Vase' (The Apotheosis of the Toiler), 1910
Porcelain, Museum purchase, P.C. 30.4.78 a-c
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
