Rörstrand Art Nouveau Porcelain from Sweden

The appearance of the Rörstrand porcelain factory from Stockholm at the 1900 world exhibition in Paris was brilliant: the world had never seen such expert handling of porcelain mass – some in the form of waferthin petals – and an underglaze colour palette with such subtle nuances. The critics were full of praise and the economic success was soon to follow.
The foundation for this laid in the cooperation between Rörstrand and the painter Alf Wallander, who had worked for the manufacturer from 1894/1895. By 1896 Rörstrand had his first big success with the porcelain designed by Wallander at exhibitions in Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg. Its artistic rise finally began in 1897 with the Art and Industry Exposition in Stockholm and found its crowning moment in Paris, the International Exhibition of Modern Art in Turin in 1902 and the World Exhibition in St. Louis in 1904. Rörstrand could now compete on an international level alongside the two significant Danish manufacturers Royal Copenhagen and Bing & Grøndahl.
Wallander combined the underglaze painting cultivated in Copenhagen with a plastic modelling. The reliefs of the famous Rörstrand vases were all carried out by hand and are unique pieces. Other artists who worked with Rörstrand included Per Algot Eriksson, Nils Lundström and Karl and Waldemar Lindström, who all advocated a naturalistic Art Nouveau style (ca. 1895 to 1910).
Rörstrand’s porcelain factory had already been founded in 1726 as a faience factory. For over 120 years it produced fine stoneware; later majolica, bisque porcelain and Parian ware were added, and also the porcelain production from around 1895, with which Rörstrand rose to world renown.
Finest underglaze painting and delicate free-formed relief and a jour decoration helped establish the Rörstrand porcelain factory’s rise to international fame. With approximately 170 objects the publication shows outstanding examples of the Rörstrand production at the time of Art nouveau.
Exhibition in the International Ceramics Museum,Weiden (branch of Die Neue Sammlung Neue Sammlung, Munich) from 16.10.2011 – Mid-January 2012