Teapot
Lid
Maker & role
Russel Wright (b.1904, d.1976), Designer; Steubenville Pottery Company, Maker
Production date
1946-1948
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Object detail
Title
American Modern
Production place
Collection
Measurements
H: 11 x W: 22 x D: 10.5cm (H: 110 x W: 220 x D: 105mm)
Signature & marks
Impressed into base: 'Russel / Wright / MFG BY / STEUBENVILLE'
Credit line
Gift, through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, Harry Seidler AC OBE, 1991
Rose Seidler House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Rose Seidler House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caption
Teapot, 'American Modern' design by Russel Wright, manufactured by Steubenville Pottery Company, USA, 1946-1948
Description
Part of a 103-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 bean brown – American Modern became one of the best-selling tableware lines in American history.
Architect Harry Seidler would have witnessed the success of the range when he was studying and working in North America in the 1940s. When he arrived in Australia in 1948 to design Rose Seidler House for his mother and father, Rose and Max, he also provided almost all the furniture and furnishings, many pieces from the United States, including this item. Seidler believed that the American Modern design with its removal of unnecessary ornament was ideal for his parents’ modernist home. Although Rose accepted most the furnishings supplied by her son, she did insist on retaining her traditional Rosenthal dinnerware which had come from her former Viennese home before World War II.
Architect Harry Seidler would have witnessed the success of the range when he was studying and working in North America in the 1940s. When he arrived in Australia in 1948 to design Rose Seidler House for his mother and father, Rose and Max, he also provided almost all the furniture and furnishings, many pieces from the United States, including this item. Seidler believed that the American Modern design with its removal of unnecessary ornament was ideal for his parents’ modernist home. Although Rose accepted most the furnishings supplied by her son, she did insist on retaining her traditional Rosenthal dinnerware which had come from her former Viennese home before World War II.
Accession number
RSH91/11-8.1:2
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