Albert Robert Valentien (1862–1925) was an American painter, botanical artist, and ceramic artist. He is best known for his work as the chief ceramics decorator at Rookwood Pottery, and for his watercolor paintings of botanical subjects. In 1908, he accepted a commission from philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps to illustrate the botanical diversity of California. Over the next ten years, he produced approximately 1200 watercolor "plant portraits" of native California wildflowers, grasses, ferns, and trees.
Biography
Vase by Albert Robert Valentien, for Rookwood Pottery Company, 1893, Cincinnati Art Museum collection.[1]
Valentien was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on 11 May 1862, to Anna Marie Wolter and Frederick Valentine. He studied art at the School of Design of the University of Cincinnati (later the Cincinnati Art Academy), working with Thomas S. Noble and Frank Duveneck. With fellow student John Rettig, Valentien studied decoration of china, learning underglazed pottery decoration from T(homas) J. Wheatley.[2]
He married artist Anna Marie Bookprinter (née Buchdrucker) in 1887.[3]
Rookwood
In 1887 he joined the Rookwood Pottery Company, and led the art pottery's decoration department for the next twenty years.[3][4]
In 1903, the Valentiens visited Southern California, staying several months with Anna's brother in Dulzura, a small community southeast of San Diego. During that visit, Valentien produced 135 paintings of California wildflowers, exhibiting the collection at the State Normal School in San Diego (present day San Diego State University).[5]
Retiring from Rookwood in 1905, the Valentiens moved to San Diego in 1908.
California flora
"Carpenteria californica (Tree anemone)" (c.1908–1918), Valentien Collection, San Diego Natural History Museum.[6]
Ellen Browning Scripps commissioned Valentien to paint a series of illustrations of California wildflowers with the intention of publishing a compendium of the flora of California. Valentien worked on the project for ten years, and the scope of botanical subjects grew to encompass native grasses, ferns, and trees. Scripps ultimately decided not to publish the flora. Her estate donated most of his paintings in her collection, 1094 in total, to the San Diego Natural History Museum in 1933.[2][7]
Albert Robert Valentien died on August 5, 1925 in San Diego, California.
Collections
Earthenware plaque by Albert Robert Valentien for Rookwood Pottery Company, LACMA collection.[8]
Valentien's paintings and art pottery work are represented in collections of the San Diego Natural History Museum, the Cincinnati Art Museum, the California State Library, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and in private collections.
See also
List of California native plants
Flora of California
References
Vase by Albert Robert Valentien, Rookwood Pottery Company, 1893, earthenware with mahogany glaze line – Cincinnati Art Museum Collection.
Dykens, Margaret N.; et al. (2003). Plant portraits: the California legacy of A.R. Valentien. Irvine, Calif.: Irvine Museum. ISBN 0971409250.
Kamerling, Bruce (Summer 1978). "Anna and Albert Valentien: The Arts and Crafts Movement in San Diego". Journal of San Diego History. 24: 343–65.
Simpson, Richard V. (September 1999). "Rookwood pottery: a tradition of excellence". Antiques & Collecting Magazine. 104 (7): 32.
LaFee, Scott (February 9, 2000). "Valentien's flowers - An artistic tale of beauty, science, talent and heartbreak". San Diego Union-Tribune.
Valentien Collection, San Diego Natural History Museum: SDNHM ARV 1933-0493 — "Carpenteria californica (Tree anemone)", (1908–1918), watercolor and gouache on paper
San Diego Natural History Museum: Albert Valentien
http://collections.lacma.org/node/198338 Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) AC1999.252.3 — Earthenware plaque by Albert Robert Valentien for Rookwood Pottery Company, LACMA collection.
Further reading
Landauer, Susan; Gerdts, William H.; Trenton, Patricia (2003). The Not-so-still Life: A Century of California Painting and Sculpture. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-23938-8.
Williford, Tammie (2000). Albert R. Valentien: The California Years, 1908–1925 (exhibition catalog). Cincinnati, OH: Cincinnati Art Galleries.
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