RARE Vintage 50’s Ceramic Arts Studio Betty Harrington “GRACE” & “GREG” Ballet

Description

RARE Vintage 50’s Ceramic Arts Studio Betty Harrington “GRACE” & “GREG” Ballet Ceramic Figurines
Very good condition, no chips or cracks, label on back. 9” x 6 ½” (Holes provided on back to hang on wall)
“The Ceramic Arts Studio of Madison (CAS) produced decorative figurines, wall plaques, salt and pepper sets, and head vases from 1942 until its closing in 1956.  Its ware was distributed nationally to stores such as Marshall Fields and Gumps.
The company was originally formed in 1940 by Lawrence Rabbitt, a University of Wisconsin student who had received a WPA grant to research  Wisconsin clay.  Rabbitt produced hand-thrown pottery that he sold locally in Madison.  In January, 1941, Rabbitt went into partnership with another UW student, Reuben Sand. Sand undertook marketing and distribution of the firm’s products, produced primarily by Rabbitt.
In 1942 Rabbit left the firm and Betty Harrington began modeling the figurines for which the firm is primarily known today.  CAS figurines that originally sold for two or three dollars in the 1950s can now command hundreds of dollars in the collectibles market.”
‘The lifespan of Madison, Wisconsin’s, Ceramic Arts Studio was just 15 years, from 1940 to 1955. During its heyday, however, CAS turned out a remarkable 500,000 figurines annually from its make-do workspace: a converted garage.
Almost all of the 1,000-plus unique ceramics released by Ceramic Arts Studio were the work of designer Betty Harrington. Like her California contemporaries, Harrington’s figurines of the early 1940s were designed with the interests of the buying public in mind. As one promo piece of the time put it, CAS specialized in “shy maids and dapper gents, dogs and cats, Bo-Peeps and Boy Blues.” For wartime consumers, cheery figurines like these were just the ticket.
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