Raul Coronel

thanks a lot Calusa these are fantastic pics very inspiring . are Rauls pieces signed? tho not much chance of finding them here

Pieces are generally signed "raul"--in script, no caps, with a 2 digit year designation. If the item is signed "coronel" then it was made by an assistant. And you might be surprised where a piece might turn up...

Here are photos of Raul's showroom (I think this is the Hollywood location in the early 1960's), the people pictured are he and his wife. The next few photos are are of modular architectural elements installed in various California locations. Note the tag on the last photo (divider) which lists the price at $20 per square foot.
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Here is a photo of Raul (right), and myself, posing like "homeboys" in my display space at the Los Angeles Pottery Show in January 2010. url=https://servimg.com/view/15559699/68][/url]

Here's another "weed pot" style lamp base made by Raul that I scored on ebay this week. It is about 19" tall and 14" wide, and is dated 1965. I had watched it all week and sniped it in the last few seconds for a surprisingly reasonable amount. The dealer was about 130 miles away, but was in town this weekend for a flea market and delivered it to me free. To quote Bob Dylan: "I can't help it if I'm lucky".

The Getty Museum has funded several California institutions for shows in late 2011 that will feature 20th Century California Design. One of those institutions is The American Museum of Ceramic Arts (AMOCA) in Pomona California. California ceramic designs and artists from 1945-1975 will be exhibited. Raul Coronel will be well represented in that show (several pieces from my collection will be included). A 275 page book will be produced in conjunction with the show, and it will likely include more information on Raul and his work than can be found anywhere outside this forum. The AMOCA show will run from September 2011-April 2012.

As far as acquiring pieces of his work, I would have to suggest major Modernist American Auction houses such as Sollo-Rago, as well as American dealers who specialize in Mid-Century Modern items, though I have found many of the items in my collection in antique shops and even flea markets and ebay. Another possibility (though no promises) is the Los Angeles Pottery show in February (I posted info in the "Museums, Exhibitions and Books Forum"). There are also several Modernist shows annually in California and other US cities. Though there was quite a large output from 1957-1986, Raul's work is fairly rare in the marketplace and highly sought by collectors. When a piece surfaces, it usually doesn't last for long. After the AMOCA show and book, his work will undoubtedly become even more popular and difficult to find.

This is a spectacular covered jar from 1982. It is highly unusual in that it is porcelain rather than stoneware. It stands an impressive 33 inches to the tip of the lid!
I thought this piece had slipped through my fingers several years ago when it was up for auction at an American Ceramic Society fund raising auction. When I called in with my phone bid, I was told the auction had been closed early and the piece was sold--needless to say, I was piddle! I railed against the person on the phone, accused them of fraud, etc. until I realized it was getting me nowhere, so I hung up in disgust and quit the ACS. Imagine my surprise, when several years later, I was relating this tale to someone in my pottery class, and a new member turned around and informed me she was the person I had been talking to on the phone that night. As it turned out, she ended up with the pot in a trade, and as fortune would have it, she had felt bad about the incident, was downsizing her collection and offered to sell it to me. C'est la vie in the world of pottery collecting....

After speaking to Raul about the tall yellow jar I posted a pic of, he informed me it is not porcelain per se, as I had stated, but a mixture of porcelain and white stoneware clays. It was thrown in 4 sections that were joined together which was a technique he learned while studying with Carlton Ball in the 1960's (I believe this is actually an ancient Korean technique).

Here is a pic of a very rare set of dinnerware designed by Raul for the Coors China Company (circa 1970's).

At the 2010 Los Angeles Pottery Show, a man approached me and asked if I knew who Raul Coronel was--funny thing, as Raul was sitting right next to me at the time, so I introduced them. Turns out the man worked at a bank where Raul had been commissioned to do a ceramic mural in the 60's; he told us that the bank had been acquired by Sanwa bank a short time ago, and that Sanwa did some redesigning of the lobby area. Some demolition was required and though the mural had been left intact, a tiled column had been removed as were some other bordering tiles. This gentleman had the presence of mind to get permission to remove and salvage the tiles. He and a friend went in on Saturday when the bank was closed and carefully removed the tiles to his home. He has approximately 200 of them. Though he did not want to sell them, he allowed me to photograph them where he had laid them out in his back yard. Here are a couple of of the photos:
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Besides being a potter and ceramic artist, Raul also did textile designs and painted. Here is a photo of one of his more recent paintings:
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I had mentioned earlier in this post that Raul had consented to do a throwing demonstration at my pottery class at the Creative Arts Center in Burbank, California. It was the first time he had thrown pottery in about 20 years. We shot a bit of film of his demo, but I did manage to get a couple of still shots as he was practicing for his "performance". Here he is centering a chunk of clay (I have never seen someone center so easily).

I have a Raul Coronel piece date '63. It is partridges in a pear tree mounted on a cloth covered backboard, approx. 30" x 48". All the tile is is good condition, but the material is very water damaged and stained. Does anyone have any suggestions for remounting this piece without diminishing its value?

Thank you,

would you post some pics so we can see the damage please?

Raul's studio produced several designs for these wall pieces. Yours seems quite large among them. First, does it retain the signature plaque? If it says "raul" it is by Raul himself; if it is marked "coronel" it usually (but not always) denotes that it was made by an assistant. Because of the large size, and the fact that design does not appear in the catalog, I suspect it was made by Raul personally and it may be a one-of-a-kind piece. Most of the pieces I have seen have suffered deterioration to the backing fabric--some minor, some extreme.

About the damage; first does it have any silkscreen printed design elements on the backing fabric? If not I would suggest remounting it. This can be accomplished by carefully removing the pieces from the fabric and soaking them to dissolve the glue (you can use a cellulose sponge to gently scrub away the residue--this will not damage the pieces as they are stoneware). Next cut a piece of similar material as a backing board to the same outer dimensions as your piece (usually a pressed board of some sort). Buy a piece of burlap of similar color and weave. Carefully stretch and glue the burlap to the backing board and weight the surface to keep the material flat while the glue dries (Raul generally used common white glue--apply it in a smooth thin coat with a short napped paint roller). Then carefully glue the ceramic pieces into their original positions (I would suggest taking a photograph and measurements as a guide before beginning this process). Also weight the pieces until the glue is dried. Reframe the piece using the original framing materials if possible.

If the item has silkscreen printed sections of the design, that sets up additional problems, and if I were undertaking this task, I would locate a small private silkscreen operation (like the kind that prints small runs of custom printed t-shirts) and see if they might be able to duplicate the printing on the burlap.

If this is all a bit much for you, you might consider professional assistance.

I have a wall piece that Raul himself remounted in the manner described and I don't think this process would adversely affect the value considering the option of having a shabby looking backing (We call that "restoration"). These items tend to be fairly valuable in the secondary market (I have seen a range of a minimum of $500 up to several thousands USD).

I hope this helps, and please post a picture of the piece as it is now (and perhaps again if you restore it).

Thanks so much for the reply. My camera just stopped working yesterday, but I will post a pic asap. The piece is signed "raul 63" and the ceramic portion only measures 23" wide by 40" tall. There are three birds and the tree is in the pot as I've seen a few other pieces. There is no silkscreening, and, interestingly, the thin wood frame is wrapped in the same material as the backing material, but as a separate piece. Will post a pic once i borrow a camera or get mine fixed.

ok, the one i have is similar to this one at link below:

Raul Coronel, Four Nesting Birds, circa 1965, 28 x 21.75 in., LA Modern (sold for $1,100 in 2007)

http://www.midcenturia.com/2010/11/raul-coronel-master-mid-century_16.html

i just noticed that this link may be prohibited by the site. not sure if it meets the criteria to be allowed, so, if not, i apologize and figure it will be removed! oops.

Hi rhamil (and thanks skay for the nice remark and the happy face kiss). Funny, Kevin from mid-centuria lifted his info on Raul directly from my entry at Askart.com. Not to be selfish though, my intent is to get the information out there and let the world know about Raul and what a force he has been in mid century design. He has been sadly overlooked in the history books, primarily, I think because he was never became a pottery teacher (you know what they say: "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach"). I am attaching a copy of a page from Raul's catalog from the 1960's and as you can see, your piece is indeed there (with an original price of $185). It appears to be one of the more elaborate designs that were produced. BTW, I recently saw "The Flute Player" on ebay, and even though the backing fabric was trashed, the seller was asking $2400 (didn't sell though--some people just don't have a clue). Cheers and Good luck with the restoration.

Oh, and just one more comment; I was looking through a book about Marguerite Wildenhain today (for those of you who may not know, a very well known German woman with a Bauhaus background who relocated to Northern California and established an art center known as Pond Farm from the 1950's-80's, where many leading US potters (including Raul) trained--she also knew Leach and Hamada and was known to have publicly taken issue with Leach's comment that US potters did not possess a "cultural taproot" of ceramic tradition). Anyway, I digress, and what I started to say is that in this book is picture of a tile made by Wildenhain that has a motif of birds roosting in a tree. As Raul's pieces were fresh in mind, I realized that Wildenhain's tile may have been the original inspiration for several of his designs using this motif.

Here is another large lamp base from Raul's studio (#LB 103 in his catalog). It is 19 inches tall and 13 inches wide. I bought this from a seller on ebay. It appeared unmarked, but a closer examination revealed that it is signed very faintly "coronel '68". Raul re-signed it for me last year. This form was regularly produced for the studio by one of Raul's co-workers, Bob Kinzie. Kinzie established "Affiliated Craftsmen, California" in the 1960's and produced this form through the late 1970's. This form has often been incorrectly attributed to David Cressey. Cressey was a friend and contemporary of Coronel's and both men produced designs for "Architectural Pottery Company" which was a major force in American modernist ceramic design from the 1950's through the 1980's. Many of AP's designs, including Raul's classic "Perforated Lantern" are currently being reproduced by "Vessel, Inc.". A few years ago, Raul was presented a design award by the "Museum of California Design" (MOCAD) for the perforated lantern.
Bob Kinzie exhibited in the Syracuse Nationals in 1960. He and his wife Sandy are currently producing ceramic art in Aptos, California; their website is kinziestoneware.com. Some interesting stuff there. Kinzie is a remarkable potter

I just happened upon this forum today as I was doing some research on Mr. Coronel. My now deceased parents were collectors of his work and I've now inherited their pieces and have restored one large mural that my parents called "The Village". I am attaching a picture and would love to know any history of it if Mr. Coronel remembers it. It measures 52" X 26". I believe the item was purchased at his studio in 1971 or 72. And if memory serves me, it was purchased in pieces and my father mounted and framed it. I have since restored it as the original canvas backing had deteriorated. Here is a picture of it:



I also have this fantastic pierced vase that was made into a lamp:



Thank you in advance for any information you might have on these pieces.

Cheers, Eric

Hi Eric, Sorry for the delay in responding but I have been quite busy and haven't checked the forum recently. You have a couple of fantastic pieces! Thanks for sharing them to this post. I will email Raul and ask him to look at the pieces and see if he has any comments. I can tell you a little about them; the wall piece is shown in his catalog from the 1960's. It is listed as "Single or Double Jeweled Village", "available in warm or cool colors with glass". The available sizes listed were 36 x 36" ($260), and 36 x 61" ($410). So it appears you have an unlisted size (perhaps a custom order?). The lamp is a wonderful example of his design work involving incising and carving. You might notice there is a similarly decorated cylinder in the second photo I posted (on page 1). I will get back to this when I have heard back from Raul.

Hi Calusa--thank you so much for the information! That's interesting that the piece village piece seems to be a different size than the catalog listings.

Last week I was very lucky to score a charger plate that you had mentioned he had done in his Venice studio--here's a picture of it. It was done by him in 1978--it's 18 1/2" wide here's a picture of it:



Thank you again for taking the time to to reply and please thank Raul in advance as well. I am so anxious to see the Pomona exhibit this fall. Cheers, Eric

Glad to be of help. That's a great plate you picked up. It was actually done while he was still on Melrose Ave. in Hollywood before he reorganized and moved to the Venice studio. I spoke to him today, he was having some trouble logging onto the forum so he hasn't had a chance to see the pics you posted. He told me that the "village" piece was likely one of a kind which accounts for the odd size. He says the lamp is likely one of about 2 or 3 that were made. He did not make many of those because he says they were quite fragile because of the piercing. I am also looking forward to the Pomona show; there will be a concurrent show at the Museum of Arts & Crafts on Wilshire that will feature the huge yellow covered pot pictured in this post (he calls it "The Banana")

Here are a couple of recent scores; the first is a female bust that is a portrait of Raul's late wife (a sentimental favorite of his). An incredible find at a local estate sale last month. It has only a partial paper label so it went unrecognized, but I was familiar with it from seeing it in his photo archives. Interesting thing about this is it is made from wheel thrown pieces with the features pushed out from the inside and refined on the outer surface. the hair is another wheel thrown pot, altered and placed upside down on the head (pretty amazing accomplishment!).
The second piece is a tall cylinder vase that has been flattened into an oval shape (made in 1964). I got this from the same dealer that I bought the round brown pot from. I traded 2 pieces by Doyle Lane for it.