Thomas C. Folk
Waylande Gregory: Science and Ceramics

Ceramics in America 2013

Full Article
Contents
  • Figure 1
    Figure 1

    Waylande Gregory, The Swimmer, ca. 1933. (Photo, courtesy Waylande Gregory Archives.) Gregory is holding a female nude sculpture; behind him is The Bather, ca. 1933. 

  • Figure 2
    Figure 2

    Lorado Taft and students boarding a plane from London to Paris, ca. 1928. Gregory is on the far left; Taft is fourth from the right. (Photo, courtesy Waylande Gregory Archives.)

  • Figure 3
    Figure 3

    Waylande Gregory, Light Dispelling Darkness, 1936–1938, installed in Roosevelt Park, in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Concrete. H. approx. 20'. (Photo, Randl Bye.)

  • Figure 4
    Figure 4

    Waylande Gregory, Universal Peace, from Light Dispelling Darkness. (Photo, Randl Bye.)

  • Figure 5
    Figure 5

    Waylande Gregory, Agriculture and Industry, from Light Dispelling Darkness. (Photo, Randl Bye.) 

  • Figure 6
    Figure 6

    Waylande Gregory, Pestilence, from Light Dispelling Darkness. Glazed terracotta. H. 3'. (Photo, Randl Bye.)

  • Figure 7
    Figure 7

    New York World’s Fair, 1939, with the Perisphere and Trylon by Wallace Harrison rising behind the General Motors Building, designed by Norman Bel Geddes.

  • Figure 8
    Figure 8

    Waylande Gregory, Fountain of the Atom, 1939, installed at the World’s Fair, Queens, New York. Reproduced from Ross Anderson and Barbara Perry, The Diversions of Keramos: American Clay Sculpture, 1925–1950, exh. cat. (Syracuse: Everson Museum of Art, 1984), p. 3. 

  • Figure 9
    Figure 9

    Waylande Gregory, Water (background) and Air (foreground), ca. 1938, from Fountain of the Atom. Glazed earthenware. H. 72". (Courtesy, Cranbrook Academy [Water] and private collection [Air]; photo, courtesy Waylande Gregory Archives.) Installed at the 1939 World’s Fair; note the artist alongside Water in this studio photograph.

  • Figure 10
    Figure 10

    Waylande Gregory, preliminary drawing for Water, ca. 1938. Charcoal on paper. 15" x 13". (Courtesy, private collection; photo, Randl Bye.)

  • Figure 11
    Figure 11

    Waylande Gregory, maquette for Water, ca. 1938. Glazed earthenware. H. 22". (Private collection; photo, Randl Bye.)

  • Figure 12
    Figure 12

    Waylande Gregory, maquette for Earth, ca. 1938. Glazed earthenware. H. 22". (Courtesy, Lea Allen Gebauer collection; photo, Randl Bye.)

  • Figure 13
    Figure 13

    Waylande Gregory, Earth, ca. 1938, from Fountain of the Atom. Glazed earthenware. H. 77". (Philadelphia Museum of Art; photo, Randl Bye.)

  • Figure 14
    Figure 14

    Waylande Gregory, Air, ca. 1938, from Fountain of the Atom. Glazed earthenware. 65" x 35" x 39". (Courtesy, private collection; photo, Waylande Gregory Archives.)

  • Figure 15
    Figure 15

    Waylande Gregory, Fire, ca. 1938, from Fountain of the Atom. Glazed earthenware. 76" x 41" x 41". (Courtesy, private collection; photo, Randl Bye.)

  • Figure 16
    Figure 16

    Waylande Gregory, Female Electron, ca. 1938, from Fountain of the Atom. Glazed earthenware. 50" x 25" x 25". (Courtesy, Marty and Judy Stogniew Collection; photo, Randl Bye.)

  • Figure 17
    Figure 17

    Waylande Gregory, Male Electron, ca. 1938, from Fountain of the Atom. Glazed earthenware, 48" x 26" x 26". (Private collection; photo, Randl Bye.)

  • Figure 18
    Figure 18

    Waylande Gregory, Portrait of Einstein, ca. 1940. Glazed terracotta, 15" x 5" x 6". (Courtesy, Marty and Judy Stogniew Collection; photo, Randl Bye.)

  • Figure 19
    Figure 19

    Gregory’s use of his “honeycomb technique” on Mother and Child, ca. 1936. (Photo, courtesy Waylande Gregory Archives.)

  • Figure 20
    Figure 20

    Waylande Gregory, Atomic Holocaust, ca. 1950. Oil on wooden panel. 17" x 47". (Courtesy, Ron Wei; photo, Randl Bye.)