Adelaide Alsop Robineau - A Pioneering Potter

Who created the Mona Lisa of American Ceramics? And how was it stolen from under the noses of museum guards? In this episode Paul Greenhalgh and Stephanie Rozene travel to the American Gilded Age at the end of the 19th C to discuss the life and work of Adelaide Alsop Robineau, the pioneering potter who fought to make her own work her own way, and went on to win the top prize at the prestigious World’s Fair, putting American ceramics on the map.

Ceramics and artwork in this week’s episode include:

Cup with beetles, 1901 by Adelaide Alsop Robineau

Courtesy of The Met Collection

Vase (Crystalline)1910 by Adelaide Alsop Robineau

Courtesy of the Everson Museum of Art

Staff of the University City Pottery and Art Institute, 1910

Courtesy of the Everson Museum of Art Archives

Scarab Vase, 1910 by Adelaide Alsop Robineau

Courtesy of the Everson Museum of Art

Cinerary Urn, Circa 1929 by Adelaide Alsop Robineau

Courtesy of the Everson Museum of Art

Stolen Art Alert Poster

International Foundation for Art Research

Courtesy of the Everson Museum of Art Archives

To see images of the artworks in this episode go to heni.com/thehistoryofceramics or visit the HENITalks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@HENITalks

Hosts: Paul Greenhalgh & Stephanie Rozene

Additional Research: Catherine Ingram

Editor: Alessandro Ruocco

Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Introduction: Adelaide Alsop Robineau and the Scarab Vase
• 00:01:37 America's Gilded Age and the Rise of Art Pottery
• 00:03:10 Adelaide's Early Life
• 00:04:56 China Painting: A Technical Note
• 00:07:20 Meeting Samuel Robineau and Starting Keramic Studio Magazine
• 00:09:25 Syracuse: A Hub of the Arts and Crafts Movement
• 00:11:37 The Magazine Empire and Teaching Women
• 00:16:47 The Radical Switch from China Painting to Porcelain
• 00:21:50 Learning from Taxile Doat: Porcelain Secrets Revealed
• 00:25:10 Mastering Crystalline Glazes
• 00:29:30 The First Female Studio Potter Working in Porcelain
• 00:30:19 University City and the Dream Team of Potters
• 00:32:58 Creating the Scarab Vase: 1000 Hours of Carving
• 00:38:38 Catastrophic Cracks and Miraculous Repair
• 00:41:35 The Grand Prix at Turin 1911
• 00:43:30 Return to Syracuse and Teaching Legacy
• 00:45:02 Final Years and the Funerary Urn
• 00:49:08 The Great Scarab Vase Heist of 1989
• 00:52:27 Recovery: David Rago and the Polaroid Evidence
• 00:56:15 Adelaide's Legacy: Never Lacking in Self-Confidence