Red Wing Pottery Vases and Vessels

"Antique Red Wing Union Pottery salt glaze stoneware ten gallon crock. Some History of Red Wing Pottery Company Red Wing, Minnesota was home to the manufacture of utilitarian stoneware, art pottery and dinnerware from 1861 until 1967. The great American art potter Susan Frackelton sent her salt-glazed ware from Milwaukee to be fired at Red Wing in the 1890s, and the company made pig figurines and other novelties as early as 1885. But this work was insignificant compared to the huge quantity of stoneware produced there, and shipped everywhere in the country. John Paul was the first known maker of jugs, crocks and jars in Red Wing, and was active in 1861. He was followed by the Red Wing Terra Cotta Company (1866-1877), and the Minnesota Pottery (1875-1877). Encouraged by nearby clay deposits and ready access to water, fuel, and transportation, three other companies were soon started: the Red Wing Stoneware Company (1877), the Minnesota Stoneware Company (1883), and the North Star Stoneware Company (1892). These three organized the Union Stoneware Company in 1894 to act as their single sales representative.   In 1896, North Star was absorbed by the other companies, which in turn merged in 1906 to form a single entity, Red Wing Union Stoneware. The new company adopted two “paired leaf” logos as page 3 trademarks. Around this time, a transparent white glaze replaced the salt glaze or brown albany slip used previously, and a little later, stamped labels and decoration replaced freehand artwork. Pieces with the new white glaze, but with hand decoration are known as “transitional pieces” and can be dated to the turn of the century, as can the “red wing” trademark, first used in 1909. The Red Wing Legacy: Stoneware, Art Ware and Dinnerware will include many examples of rare early stoneware and figurines. Turn-of-the-century production at Red Wing was diversified in other ways. Red Wing was making spittoons, umbrella holders, jardinieres and garden ware by 1900. And, like other stoneware makers, the art pottery craze of the late 19th century led Red Wing to make its first true art ware. “Brushed Ware” was made by a number of stoneware producers including Red Wing, Monmouth (Illinois), and Robinson-Ransbottom (Ohio). Color was applied to molded stoneware, and then lightly “brushed away” leaving contrasting areas on the embossed design. Author and Red Wing expert Ray Reiss (Red Wing Art Pottery, 1995) notes this was a part of Red Wing’s regular production by 1906, and remained a staple until at least the 1930s, if not longer. (Brushed ware is still being made by Robinson-Ransbottom, among others, for garden use.) More conventional art pottery was first made at Red Wing in the 1920s, becoming a staple, along with lamp bases, by 1930. Red Wing art ware from this decade usually has a circular blue ink mark and molded form numbers. The shapes were designed by in-house potters, often in the Neo-Classical and Egyptian Revival styles. Notable artisans from this period through the 1940s included George Hehr, Lou McGrew and Teddy Hutchson. Glazes were most often glossy yellow or green, with mulberry, dark blue, and others produced to a lesser degree. Red Wing also invented a complex glaze called Nokomis which was a mottled mix of green, blue, tan and gray shades. It is highly prized today. Red Wing was hurt by the Great Depression, and the sale of stoneware storage jars was decreasing as electric refrigeration spread, but the firm got an infusion of energy and new ideas from George Rumrill in 1933. A talented salesman and entrepreneur, Rumrill copied glazes and forms from his previous employers, the Arkansas potteries Niloak and Camark. He (or his wife) also created some fine new art forms such as the Athenian Line which featured stylized Art Nouveau and Art Deco nudes. Rumrill’s partnership with Red Wing ended in 1937. After winning a dispute over ownership of his trademark name, he went on to make “RumRill” pottery in Ohio. George Rumrill died in 1943, and is best remembered today for the wonderful pottery he page 5 helped create at Red Wing. The Red Wing Legacy: Stoneware, Art Ware and Dinnerware will include many great examples of RumRill, and other Red Wing art Pottery from the 1920s and 1930s. In 1936, Red Wing Union Stoneware re-incorporated as Red Wing Potteries, Inc., to better reflect its diverse production, which by then included kitchenware and dinnerware, in addition to stoneware, lamps, and art pottery. Red Wing contracted with the talented freelance industrial designer Belle Kogan in 1938. Based in New York, Kogan designed houseware in glass, plastics and ceremics from 1931 until 1970. Her ceramics clients included the Brush Pottery, Cordey China, and Nelson McCoy Pottery, among others. Red Wing issued 100 of Kogan’s art pottery designs in 1938, as well as her Fondoso, a dinnerware line within itsGypsy Trail Group. Kogan’s popular Magnolia Group was launched in 1940, and her Red Wing kitchenware designs from this time period include the five fruit cookie jars. Belle Kogan’s work for Red Wing decreased when the firm hired Charles Murphy as its in-house designer in 1940. Murphy became Red Wing’s most important designer-artist. He created dinnerware patterns, figurines, the cookie jars Friar Tuck...

Vintage red wing pottery, model 1342, light celadon green dachshund shaped miniature planter.      

"Red Wings Pottery 15 Gallon Stoneware Crock, Patented 1915. Measure: 31". Red Wing pottery refers to American stoneware, pottery, or dinnerware items made by a company initially set up in Red Wing, Minnesota, in 1861 by German immigrant John Paul, which changed its names several times until finally settling on Red Wing Potteries, Inc. in 1936. The pottery factory that started in 1861 continues to the present day under the names of Red Wing Pottery and Red Wing Stoneware...

Green "teco" green matte ceramic vase by Red Wing Potteries of Minnesota.