NEHMA | Collection

Ernest A. Batchelder

American
(1875–1957)

Tile
1910

Earthenware
4 x 4 x 0.85 in.
Gift of George R. and Lorna Wanlass
1987.220

Earnest Batchelder drew his design inspirations from the Middle Ages, Mayan patterns, Byzantine themes, animals, birds, and flora and fauna. These animal tiles are excellent examples of his work, and set him apart from the dozens of other tilemakers in Southern California at the beginning of the twentieth century. The single-fire process used engobe a colored clay slip pooled in the recesses of the relief design, while the raised surface was wiped clean to be in contrast to the earthenware clay color. At Batchelder’s factory, 175 employees in Batchelder's factory hand molded tiles, and he boasted: “No two tiles the same.”

Born 1875 in New Hampshire, Earnest Batchelder completed his art education at the Massachusetts Normal Art School, now Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He moved to Pasadena, California, in the early 1890s to teach metalwork, pottery, and tile making at Throop Polytechnic Institute in Pasadena (now California Institute of Technology). That year he built a kiln behind his Pasadena home and entered the business of making handcrafted art tiles. He became the first manufacturer for quality decorative tile in the region. He ushered in the golden age of California tile making.

Billie Sessions, PhD.

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plants, rabbit

Exhibition List

This object was included in the following exhibitions: