Status message

Your information has been submitted.

   Printer version

Waylande Desantis Gregory

Biography to Display: 

1905Born Baxter Springs, Kansas

1971Died New Jersey

EDUCATION

1922Kansas Manual Training Normal School, Kansas City, Pittsburg, Kansas

1924Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1931-1933Fellow in Residence, Cranbrook Academy, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1928-1932Chief designer and lead sculptor at Cowan Pottery, Rocky River, Ohio

1933-onwardStudio ceramist, sculptor, designer, Bound Brook, New Jersey

APPRENTICESHIPS AND RESIDENCIES

1924Apprentice to Lorado Taft, Midway Studios, Chicago, Illinois

BIOGRAPHY   

Waylande DeSantis Gregory is known for large terra cotta sculpture. He also developed a process for fusing glass crystals to clay. Later in his career he designed a large line of brightly colored porcelain that was factory made.

In 1933 Waylande DeSantis Gregory established his studio in Bound Brook, New Jersey. He also arranged to have a workshop at the Atlanta Terra Cotta Company in Perth Amboy where he had access to the company’s large kilns. He was able to develop the unglazed terra-cotta surfaces that became a major characteristic of his sculptures. During this time he also perfected a process of building ceramic sculptures on a honeycomb like grid enabling him to make his characteristic larger than life figurative sculptures. Gregory was the first modern sculptor to create one-piece monumental ceramic scufor ptures that remain among the largest works ever made with clay. His largest and most famous piece, The Fountain of the Atom, was commissioned for the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

On his glazed works, Gregory used his own glaze recipes developed for single firings. During his short 18-month residency at Cranbrook, Gregory helped develop the foundations for the formal ceramics program. In addition to his clay work Gregory also wrote a newspaper column titled "Art in Living." He appeared in twenty episodes of "Creative Arts" for the National Broadcasting Company.

In the early 1940s Gregory developed and patented a process to fuse glass crystals to clay called "crystal" or "jewel" glaze. 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Public Collections to Display: 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography to Display: 

Clark, Garth. American Ceramics 1976 to the Present. New York, New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1987.

Folk, Thomas. "Waylande Gregory," Ceramics Monthly (November 1994).

___________. "Waylande Gregory: Art Deco Ceramic Sculpture," American Art Review (March/April 2013).

____________ ."The Art Deco Porcelains of Waylande Gregory," Antiques & Fine Art Magazine, (Summer 2013).

____________, curator.  Waylande Gregory: Art Deco Ceramics and the Atomic Impulse.  Richmond, Virginia: University of Richmond Museums, 2013.

Levin, Elaine. The History of American Ceramics from Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1988.

Schack, William. “The Sculpture of Waylande Gregory,” Parnassus (March 1939).

Tomlinson, Gerald. Murdered in New Jersey. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1994.

 

 

Typical Marks
ca 1940
ca 1950
Fountain of the Atom, Earth (detail), New York World's Fair
Date: 1939
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Terracotta
Method: Hand-Built
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
General Motors Series, New York World Fair
Date: 1939
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Terracotta
Method: Hand-Built
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Footed Bowl
Date: ca 1940
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Dimensions: 11" high
Surface Technique: Glaze, Sgraffito
E. John  Bullard Collection
E. John Bullard Collection
Winter Trees Bowl
Date: ca 1950
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Slip-Cast
Dimensions: 8.75 diameter
Surface Technique: Glaze
E. John Bullard Collection
E. John Bullard Collection
Madonna and Child
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Terracotta
Method: Cast
Surface Technique: Glaze
Everson Museum of Art Collection, Museum Purchase, 1984
Photo: John Polak
Everson Museum of Art Collection, Museum Purchase, 1984
Photo: John Polak
Yellow Bird
Date: 1984
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Porcelain
Method: Cast
Surface Technique: Glaze
Everson Museum of Art Collection, Museum Purchase, 1984
Photo: John Polak
Everson Museum of Art Collection, Museum Purchase, 1984
Photo: John Polak
Plate
Materials: Porcelain
Method: Cast
Surface Technique: Glaze
Everson Museum of Art Collection, Museum Purchase, 1984
Photo: John Polak
Everson Museum of Art Collection, Museum Purchase, 1984
Photo: John Polak
Airman Plaque
Materials: Terracotta
Method: Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Crystalline Glaze
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Head
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Terracotta
Method: Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Five Art Deco Plates
Materials: Porcelain
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Vase
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy Toomey & Co, December 2, 2018, Lot # 719
Courtesy Toomey & Co, December 2, 2018, Lot # 719

Citation: "The Marks Project." Last modified June 5, 2023. http://www.themarksproject.org/marks/gregory