This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
the “triplicate vase,” which was illustrated in the 1906 Teco
catalogue, is known to have been offered for sale to the public.
Like many Americans educated in the late 19th century, Gates held a quasi-scientific view of art as an expression of the principles of nature expressed in “organic design.” And like many designers of the period, he created simple and original forms inspired by plants or flowers. Among the most unusual were cones, vasiforms and cylinders modified by horizontal or vertical stalks, and fluid organic shapes modeled after local flora and fauna. Others were derived from classical forms favored by pre-industrial cultures, such as Japanese, Chinese and Native American.

Gates’s artistic temperament, generous nature and practical spirit also drew him into the Arts and Crafts movement, with its focus on design reform as a means to social betterment and its unique blend of aesthetics and morality. Described in one Teco booklet as a “painter, designer, raconteur, student…also chemist and modeler in clay,” he was a “hands on” participant, much like the English Arts and Crafts founder, William Morris, and dedicated in his efforts to unite industry and art. Gates created shapes that were both decorative and useful: Teco mugs and pitchers made fine flower holders; low bowls could double as bulb pots or ashtrays; large vases served equally well as lamp bases. In 1902, a dozen Teco vases suitable for use as lamp bases were shown at the first Annual Exhibition of Applied Arts held at The Art Institute of Chicago.

Production at Gates Potteries peaked in 1904, when Teco won a gold medal at the St. Louis World’s Fair. Visitors to the fair were encouraged to take home a promotional pamphlet, Teco Art Pottery, illustrating lamps and pottery available by mail. Similar booklets followed in 1905 and 1906, with the shapes identified by number and designer.

More than half the shapes appearing in these catalogues were the work of Gates, various Chicago architects or decorative designers like Orlando Giannini and Blanche Ostertag. However, an impressive number were the work of Fritz Albert or Fernand Moreau. Trained as a sculptor in Berlin before moving to Chicago, Albert headed the modeling room at American Terra Cotta & Ceramic Company, where he worked both as a designer of Teco ware and as the sculptor of many of its forms. French sculptor Moreau operated his own studio and taught ornamental modeling at The Art Institute of Chicago before joining the company in 1904.

The thriving Arts and Crafts movement and the innovative Prairie School provided Gates with both a philosophy and a clientele for his pottery, which was equally at home in a luxurious Prairie-style residence or a bungalow built from mail-order plans. “The strictly modern and truly American home offers many a niche for Teco pieces in its broad, low ceilinged living room with its bungalow type of architecture,” the Fine Arts Journal pointed out in August 1911. “It seems an almost Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125
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