Saucer
Maker & role
Russel Wright (b.1904, d.1976), Designer; Steubenville Pottery Company, Maker
Production date
1939-1959
Object detail
Title
American Modern
Production place
Collection
Measurements
Diam: 14.6cm (Diam: 146mm)
Signature & marks
Impressed into base: 'Russel / Wright / MFG BY / STEUBENVILLE'
Credit line
Purchase, 2001
Rose Seidler House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Rose Seidler House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caption
Saucer, 'American Modern' design by Russel Wright, manufactured by Steubenville Pottery Company, USA, 1939-1959.
Description
Part of a 46-piece 'American Modern' dinnerware set, designed by Russel Wright and first produced in the United States in 1939. Made in a range of innovative shapes and a variety of unusual colours for the time – this example is granite grey – American Modern became one of the best-selling tableware lines in American history. Many items were designed as multi-purpose pieces and customers could mix and match colours for this relatively inexpensive range. The new design with its removal of ornament fitted Russel and Mary Wright’s philosophy on postwar American lifestyle, which they called ‘easier living’ and was more relaxed and informal than previous generations.
The philosophy and design must have appealed to architect Harry Seidler, who would have witnessed the success of the range when he was studying and working in North America in the 1940s. When Seidler arrived in Australia in 1948 to design Rose Seidler House for his mother and father, Rose and Max, he brought with him many new modernist furnishings from the United States including two sets of American Modern dinnerware. Seidler admired Wrights work and may have been thinking of him when he stated that ‘all household items should be a pleasure to use and behold, however humble their value’.
The philosophy and design must have appealed to architect Harry Seidler, who would have witnessed the success of the range when he was studying and working in North America in the 1940s. When Seidler arrived in Australia in 1948 to design Rose Seidler House for his mother and father, Rose and Max, he brought with him many new modernist furnishings from the United States including two sets of American Modern dinnerware. Seidler admired Wrights work and may have been thinking of him when he stated that ‘all household items should be a pleasure to use and behold, however humble their value’.
Accession number
RSH2001/1-22
Share
Object name
Subject
Media / Materials
Styles
Contact Us
Head Office
The Mint, 10 Macquarie St
Sydney, NSW 2000
On Gadigal land
T 02 8239 2288
TTY 02 8239 2377
E info@mhnsw.au
Public comments
Be the first to comment on this object record.