id: 111542 accession number: 1930.118 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1930.118 updated: 2025-02-08 23:56:15.542000 Nautch Dancer, c. 1930. Waylande Gregory (American, 1905–1971), Cowan Pottery Studio (America, Rocky River, Ohio, 1920–1931). Ceramic; overall: 44.2 x 21.3 x 12.1 cm (17 3/8 x 8 3/8 x 4 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund 1930.118 title: Nautch Dancer title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1930 creation date earliest: 1930 creation date latest: 1930 current location: creditline: Dudley P. Allen Fund copyright: --- culture: America, Ohio, Cleveland technique: ceramic department: Decorative Art and Design collection: Decorative Arts type: Ceramic find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Waylande Gregory (American, 1905–1971) - sculptor * Cowan Pottery Studio (America, Rocky River, Ohio, 1920–1931) - maker The Cowan Pottery Studio was founded by R. Guy Cowan in Lakewood, Ohio, United States in 1912. It moved to Rocky River, Ohio in 1920, and operated until 1931, when the financial stress of the Great Depression resulted in its bankruptcy. Cowan Pottery produced both artistic and commercial work in a variety of styles influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Deco, Chinese ceramics, and modern sculpture.

During its two decades of operation, a number of well-known Cleveland School artists worked with Cowan at the studio: Elizabeth Anderson, Arthur Eugene Baggs, Alexander Blazys, Paul Bogatay, Edris Eckhardt, Waylande Gregory, A. Drexler Jacobson, Raoul Josset, Paul Manship, José Martin, Herman Matzen, F. Luis Mora, Elmer L. Novotny, Margaret Postgate, Stephen Rebeck, Guy L. Rixford, Viktor Schreckengost, Elsa Vick Shaw, Walter Sinz, Frank N. Wilcox, H. Edward Winter, and Thelma Frazier Winter. With the exception of Guy Cowan, himself, Waylande Gregory designed more pieces for the pottery than anyone else. Among Cowan's finest pieces were three limited edition figures relating to dance, including "Salome" (1928), "The Nautch Dancer," (1930), and "The Burlesque Dancer," (1930). For the last two, Gregory made sketches from the side of the stage of the well-known Ziegfeld Follies star, Gilda Grey, when she was performing in Cleveland. --- measurements: Overall: 44.2 x 21.3 x 12.1 cm (17 3/8 x 8 3/8 x 4 3/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: left side of base: "Waylande Gregory"; on back of base: "COWAN." translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The May Show: 12th Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen opening date: 1930-04-22T05:00:00 The May Show: 12th Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 22-June 1, 1930). title: Retrospective Twenty-fifth Anniversary May Show opening date: 1943-01-13T05:00:00 Retrospective Twenty-fifth Anniversary May Show. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 13-February 14, 1943). title: Art Deco opening date: 1979-09-07T04:00:00 Art Deco. Beck Center for the Arts, Lakewood, OH (organizer) (September 7-October 15, 1979). title: Cleveland Art Comes of Age: 1919-1940 opening date: 1989-06-28T04:00:00 Cleveland Art Comes of Age: 1919-1940. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 28-September 10, 1989). title: Craft in the Machine Age: European Influences on American Modernism, 1920-1945 opening date: 1995-10-19T00:00:00 Craft in the Machine Age: European Influences on American Modernism, 1920-1945. American Craft Museum (organizer) (October 19, 1995-February 25, 1996); Fort Wayne Museum of Art (September 7-November 3, 1996); Akron Art Museum (January 25-March 30, 1997); Milwaukee Art Museum (June 15-August 15, 1997); Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art (September 1-November 30, 1997). title: Burchfield to Schreckengost: Cleveland Art of the Jazz Age opening date: 2004-03-28T00:00:00 Burchfield to Schreckengost: Cleveland Art of the Jazz Age. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 28-July 18, 2004). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; March 28 - July 18, 2004. "Burchfield to Schreckengost: Cleveland Art of the Jazz Age", no exhibition catalogue.', 'opening_date': '2004-03-28T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE Waylande Gregory [1905-1971], Warren Township, NJ, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1930 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1930- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Basset, Mark and Naumann, Victoria. Cowan Pottery and the Cleveland School. Atglen: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1997. pp. 136-7. page number: url: American Craft Museum. Craft in the Machine Age: The History of Twentieth-Century American Craft (1920–1945). New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1995. p 16. page number: url: Hawley, Henry. “Cowan Pottery and the Cleveland Museum of Art.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 76, no. 7 (September 1989): 238–263. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 248-249, fig. 14 url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25160082 Robinson, William H., et. al. Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946: Community and Diversity in Early Modern America. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 172 url: Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney, and Martin P. Eidelberg. Gifts from the Fire: American Ceramics, 1880-1950 : from the Collection of Martin Eidelberg. New York : The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2021. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 172-173 url: --- IMAGES