Date: Fri 12-Mar-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Gerson

Full Text:

Wedgwood: The Irving Gerson Collection

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NEW ORLEANS, LA. -- One of the major facets of the decorative arts at the New

Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) is the collection of Wedgwood ceramics bequeathed

by native New Orleanian Irving Gerson. Toward the end of the Great Depression,

the young businessman admired a piece of Wedgwood offered by the prestigious

local dealer Bernard Manheim. Unable to afford it, Gerson agreed to the

proposed installment-payment plan. This initial purchase set Gerson on the

path to becoming a serious collector. Indeed, Wedgwood ceramics became his

personal passion and remained so for more than 50 years.

A modest man, Irving was fond of pointing out that he was aided in his quest

for distinguished examples of the Wedgwood production by such local dealers as

Sue Fleisch and her husband, the Manheim Galleries, M.S. Rau and Company, and,

in later years, the New Orleans Auction Galleries, Inc.

NOMA presented an initial exhibition of the Gerson collection in 1988, at

which time Gerson announced his intention of presenting the entire collection

to the museum. He saw this gift as a means of sharing his personal pleasure of

50 years with the art-loving citizens of his native city.

Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) is arguably the most celebrated potter of the

Western world. Energetic and enterprising, the young Wedgwood experimented

relentlessly with formulae and glazes for pottery bodies. He was associated

with Thomas Whieldon (1719-1795) in producing improved "variegated" wares

resembling porphyry, agate and jasper as well as basalt ware, a finely grained

black stoneware.

In 1765, Wedgwood developed a creamy earthenware body which came to be known

as Queen's ware because of its popularity with Queen Charlotte, wife of George

III. This attractive ware was followed by rosso antico and caneware, two other

colored bodies which enjoyed great popularity.

It was the invention of jasper wares in the 1770s that assured Wedgwood's

immortality. These were actually finely grained white bodies capable of taking

color well. One of the most fashionable was the renowned Wedgwood blue and

white; however, jasper ware was produced in sage green, Royal blue, yellow,

lilac and crimson. When decorated with white relief figures and ornaments,

jasper wares became an ideal medium for translating fashionable Neo-classical

taste.

Indeed, the very vitality of Josiah Wedgwood I and the ongoing firm appealed

to Gerson, who saw Josiah as the proverbial "right man in the right place at

the right time." However, this admiration for beauty and aesthetic merit. On

those two points, Gerson's Wedgwood is a testament to his joy in collecting,

his pleasure in sharing and his love of the finest that life has to offer.

The exhibition runs March 27 through May 30 and hours are Tuesday through

Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm.