Painted Lustre : The Cumbow China Decorating Company

Saturday, 29 April 2006 10:37

Abingdon, VA - William King Regional Arts Center’s new exhibition opening May 26, Painted Lustre: The Cumbow China Decorating Company, will showcase china made in Abingdon, VA. from the 1930s through the 1970s.

In 1932, John Ruskin, a Swiss emigrant, and Mabel Cumbow, a Washington County, VA resident, began the Cumbow China Decorating Company in their home in Abingdon. Artists of the company transformed blank stoneware to lustrous pieces decorated with gold, silver or copper paint. Under the direction of Mabel Cumbow Ruskin, the company developed from a room above the owners’ kitchen in the 1930s to a travel destination on Main Street in the 1940s. The designs, inspired by historical china patterns and the surrounding region, varied from a version of the familiar Tea Leaf pattern to an original pattern using geometric shapes and Egyptian hieroglyphics called “Abingdon.”

Tourists, residents, and politicians bought Cumbow China. High-school graduates in Abingdon wore miniature pitchers as pendants on necklaces, and both Eleanor Roosevelt and the Queen of England owned the wares. The complete dinner sets consisting of plates, platters, cups, saucers, sugar bowls and creamer pitchers graced many a table.

“The Arts Center takes great pleasure in exhibiting Painted Lustre, a collection with such deep roots in our region,” says curator Trisha Blosser. “In addition to being crafted here, the majority of the pieces displayed are from private collections throughout Southwest Virginia.”

Painted Lustre is the 16th exhibition to result from the Arts Center’s Cultural Heritage Project. Developed by the Arts Center in 1994, a major goal of the project is to document and present the artistic legacy of American decorative and folk art made by hand in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. It is truly a goal achieved in Painted Lustre: The Cumbow China Decorating Company. The exhibition will continue through October 8th.