Raul Coronel

Should be fine - magazines are generally covered by industrial copyright, meaning they're public domain after 25 years.

Exceptions are if the magazine only licensed the images or content, rather than outright owning the original copyright.

Many of the Getty funded PST (Pacific Standard Time) exhibits featuring Mid-Century California design are currently underway, including two that feature Raul's work: The American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA) and The Craft and Folk Art Museum (CFAM). Raul was also one of the featured participants in a panel discussion held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). He will also be taking part in AMOCA's "Second Saturday Lecture Series" in February 2012 along with several other well known artists of the period.
The LACMA event and the opening receptions for the two museum shows gave him a chance to reconnect with old friends from the ceramic art world, many of whom he has not seen in decades, as well as meet new admirers. He has been truly energized by the attention he has gotten from these events, and the realization that he has not been "forgotten with the clay dust". He was interviewed by a reporter at the CFAM reception and the interview was broadcast by a local radio station.
A previously "unseen" vase will be included in The American Ceramic Society, California Design Division's "President's Show" at the Burbank Creative Arts Center in May 2012 (he was President of the Society's Design Division in 1968).
Recently a 100 foot long ceramic mural depicting "The History of Medicine" created by Raul in the 1960's for Miles Laboratories in Elkhart, Indiana has gathered some attention because Miles was going to have it removed and sold or destroyed. A local reporter got wind of the story and brought it to the attention of the Mayor and City Council, who alerted the community and collected donations to remove and preserve this remarkable piece of historic art. Portions of the mural (and many more pieces of Raul's work) are shown in Polly Rothenberg's (now out of print) book "The Complete Book of Ceramic Art"; photos were also shown in a local Elkhart newspaper.
Coronel's work is featured in catalogs for both the AMOCA and CFAM exhibits (The AMOCA catalog is particularly impressive and informative).
Additionally Raul has recently finished his second novel "The Cortez Coins", which is now available as an "e book" through Amazon. He is currently working on a third book, an autobiography, and he is now on Facebook (in case you want to "friend" him).

Here is a pic of the previously mentioned "unseen" vase. This piece belongs to Raul's sister-in-law. As he remembers, it is approximately 18 inches tall (!). The calla lily design recalls the work of (the late) Mexican artist Diego Rivera who used a calla lily motif in several works.

Here is a piece turned up the other day by "Thoroughly Modern Billy" (seems he lives fairly close to me and showed up at my garage sale last week, when we both realized we had communicated on the Forum). This plate is about 10 inches in diameter, and made in 1976.

Hello, Dantheman directed me to this forum discussion and I was hoping somebody here could help me identify the date, title and retail value of a Raul Coronel mixed media piece of a ceramic bird mounted on a rectangular, yellow burlap panel.

I just opened a new discussion about this and my first post includes details and a photograph of the work. Here is the link:

https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t8437-raul-coronel-ceramic-bird-mounted-on-rectangular-yellow-burlap-panel#68327


Any information (especially the value ;) ) anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance for your help ,

-A

The piece is titled "Female Pheasant". Raul told me this is one of his earliest designs for wall pieces (from the 1950's). It is pictured in the 1970's catalog with an original price of $60. This piece is likely from the 60's-70's and was done by a studio assistant.

The following pics are lamp bases that were designed by Raul for Burlington Industries (possibly early 1980's). These are the original prototypes that were provided to Burlington, which made molds, cast and glazed the pieces and sold them through furniture stores. I don't think Raul ever saw any of the finished pieces, so it is unclear what material they were ultimately made of or what finishes were used. I've never seen any of the lamps out in the field, but I will be searching now....

Here are a couple of pieces that recently turned up. The first is a fairly large planter scored by my friend (and Forum mate) "thoroughlymodernbilly". It is about 14 inches tall. It initially appeared unsigned, but on close examination, I found it to be incised "coronel", though not through the typical brush stroke of engobe for contrast. It is a catalog listed piece.
The second item is a mounted 12 x 12 inch tile entitled "Jeweled Bird With Sun", I got this off ebay and it was one of a pair listed, but my bid on the second didn't go through so I ended with just the one. At least I got the signed one; it is signed "coronel" and not "raul", but Raul recognized it as his signature and told me he made it. It was mounted on wood by a former owner who said he received just the tiles and mounted them himself. Normally they were sold through Raul's studio/showroom mounted on either a burlap or linen covered backing and framed.

A few weeks ago my wife and I attended The Modernism Show in Palm Springs California. Gerard O'Brien, owner of Reform Gallery in Hollywood had some interesting pieces of Raul's work on display. The first pic shows 3 framed pieces of abstract tile compositions which were originally created as wall treatment for Raul's second studio showroom on Federal Avenue in L.A. in the mid to late 1970's. They are shown among an array of MCM period Paul McCobb modernist furniture. The weed bottle on the table was also made by Raul.
The second photo shows 4 of 7 wall pieces created as a commission for Howard Hughes' Landmark Hotel in Las Vegas. These pieces were originally part of a group of seven, ranging in size from approximately 10 inches to approximately 6 feet. The location of the remaining 3 pieces is unknown. Some of these pieces and others from the group are shown in Polly Rothenberg's book "The Complete Book of Ceramic Art" (out of print, but available from used book sellers) which features several photos of Raul and his work.

Here is a very tall and somewhat top heavy lamp base from Gerard O'Brien of Reform Gallery:

Here is an old photo of the original location of Stoneware Designs on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood (circa 1958). This place was eventually vacated in the 60's or 70's because the government seized the land through eminent domain law to make way for the Pacific Design Center. Stoneware Designs was relocated to Federal Avenue in Los Angeles.

What a lovely building. Interesting that he didn't spell his name with capital letters, I thought that was a recent thing - but obviously not?

xx

He always used lower case--it was an aesthetic design decision. It's the same with his signature on pottery, signage and even his book covers. I think the only things that escape that rule are his drivers license and passport.

Found this in a weird antique store in Hollywood today. Thought it might have been Italian until I turned it over and saw Raul's signature--the date is hard to make out, but may be '76. !2 inches diameter, bubbly glaze. Got it for a very reasonable price.

This pendant lighting fixture was an excellent score by Forum member Thoroughlymodernbilly at a Southern California estate sale yesterday. It is 16 inches in diameter, with unglazed exterior and white glazed interior.

One of Raul's best known associations was with the Architectural Pottery Company which was established in 1950 by Max and Rita Lawrence. The company closed in 1985 due to a fire at the manufacturing facility. The output of AP epitomized the Mid Century Modern aesthetic with simple, elegant, minimalist lines and forms that were devoid of decoration or embellishment. The Lawrences were inspired to start the company after encountering the work of La Gardo Tackett and his students at the California School of Arts in Pasadena, California in 1949. Tackett had suggested to his students that they design ceramics to complement post-war modernist architecture.
Coronel's connection to AP has been poorly understood which has resulted in a great deal of misinformation and incorrect attributions. The fact is: the ONLY design by Coronel that was ever put into production by AP is the well known "Perforated Lantern" (the design is currently being reproduced by VesseL USA, and can be seen at the following link:

www.yliving.com/vessel-architectural-pottery-rl2-candle-lantern.html ).

Aside from that singular design, Coronel worked with the Lawrences to establish the "Artisan I" line which featured one of a kind works by Coronel, David Cressey, La Gardo Tackett, Malcolm Leland and other artists. This later developed into the "Pro Artisan" line which primarily featured the work of David Cressey, who was hired by the Lawrences as "Artist in Residence" at AP.
During the period of Coronel's association with AP, he also continued to operate his own company, Stoneware Designs, Inc. When Stoneware Designs closed, Raul sold some of his remaining stock to AP, which probably included pieces made for SDI by Bob Kinzie of Affiliated Craftsmen (see separate thread on Kinzie), and likely contributed to the considerable confusion among dealers who began attributing Kinzie's work to David Cressey because they were unaware of Kinzie's connection to Coronel or the nature of Coronel's relationship with the Lawrences.

On page 2 under the heading "Stoneware Murals", I posted a black and white picture from Raul's archives of a large multi-panel mural installed on a commercial building. A few days ago, Forum member Thoroughly Modern Billy called me to tell me he had located the building. He snapped a couple of pics with his cell phone and emailed them to me. I am posting them to show you what it looks like in color. Note that in addition to the engobes and glazes that color the tiles, there are many tiles that have recesses filled with jewel-like melted colored glass. Also, check out the original mid century light fixture through the window in the original B/W photo as compared to the current fixtures in Billy's photo. I haven't been over there yet, but Bill told me there are twelve sections like those shown (!). I think each is about 12 by 12 feet--that's 144 square feet! An enormous amount of work to make, not to mention the installation.

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wow thats beautiful...!!!

So, I didn't finish out the arithmetic problem in my last post: 144 square feet is per each 12 x 12 foot section; considering 12 sections, makes it: 1,728 square feet total. A bit of work indeed!

do you have listed buildings in the USA?

Yes, there are historically significant buildings listed in a national registry, but I don't think any of the places that feature Raul's murals are on it. I am trying to track down a few to get some pictures. I know of a bank that has one and a friend told me he thinks there is one at a local college and possibly another on an apartment building across town. I have found mention of two others in old press clippings, but with no addresses....

I attended The American Ceramic Society Southern California Design Chapter President's Show with Raul last Friday. Raul was president of the chapter in 1961-62. Here is a photo of him standing next to the pot he exhibited. (I also had 2 pieces selected for inclusion in the show which was gratifying in itself, but for me the real thrill was exhibiting my work in the same gallery as Raul). Also included were Tom McMillin (president 1966-67) and Frank Matranga (president 1976-78), both of whom are well known mid-century California ceramists who are still active, and both of whom worked for Raul at Stoneware Designs in the 1960's.
Also shown is an archival news photo from the mid 1950's (the date in the caption is incorrect) of the ACS Design Chapter's members at that time. Some of the biggest names in American MCM pottery are in this picture. Raul is shown holding a large platter in the back row (standing next to Peter Voulkos).

When I previously posted a pic of the "Lilies" pot included in the ACS show, Raul had told me it was about 18 inches tall--he hadn't seen it in a while and it had obviously become a "fish tale" and grown considerably in his memory--it is really about 12 inches tall.

On page 9 I made an entry about Raul's activity with the Architectural Pottery Company in the 1950's-60's. I stated that Raul had only designed one piece that was reproduced by AP. Turns out that was erroneous as evidenced by the attached picture from an old AP catalog. I asked Raul about this apparent discrepancy and he told me he had submitted the designs shown to Max and Rita Lawrence (the owners of AP), but was unaware that they were ever put into production as he had never seen them. He now wonders if other designs were reproduced by AP and/or if they might turn up in the production of Vessel, which currently reproduces the AP lines.