Distinctive Mexican Pottery Revived
By Modern Potters

The distinctive pottery made in the village of Mata Ortiz in Mexico is the subject of a recent book, Mata Ortiz Pottery Today, by Guy Berger.

Juan Quezada, now named a national treasure by the Mexican government, began in 1955 to revive the ancient pottery making that had been done in the area. By using the shards which he found, by trial and error he discovered the various steps needed to produce a final piece of pottery, from mixing the clay to firing to painting the final product.

Today there are about 350 people in the village engaged in the making of Mata Ortiz pottery. Each person’s work is distinct, but there are some general types which are made. Some Mata Ortiz pottery is black on black, some is polychrome, some is decorated by sgraffito or etching. Some of the artists prefer to make miniatures and some enjoy making unusual shapes.

Although this book features contemporary Mata Ortiz pottery, the author also points out similarities with other Native American designs and leaves one to ponder the relationships that existed in previous centuries before today’s national boundary lines were established.

Old techniques are mixed with new ideas and procedures, however. The black pottery is an example.

The high luster of black Mata Ortiz pottery was discovered accidentally by Macario Ortiz. He found a shiny graphite mark left by a pencil after he fired a pot. From this he developed a graphite technique used in the village, using a combination of photocopier toner as the graphite source, mixed with diesel fuel, and applied with a rag or sponge. This mixture is applied to the pot like any glaze slip would be. Then the pot is fired with the reduction method, which makes it black throughout. If a matte design is desired after firing, it is applied to the shiny pot with another graphite mixture, using a brush.

The book includes an index of artists at the end. This might be especially helpful if you have a signed piece that you’ve not been able to trace to any of the recognized potters of the Southwest United States.

Mata Ortiz Pottery Today (ISBN: 978-0-7643-3470-2) is a Schiffer publication. It is priced at $49.99. Check with your local bookseller or online at www.schifferbooks.com.

Donna Miller

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Fiction-Based Periodicals Gave Readers
‘What They Wanted’

BOOK REVIEW

The second edition of Popular Fiction Periodicals, A Collectors’ Guide to Vintage Pulps, Digests, and Magazines, by Jeff Canja, has recently been published.
It consists of four main sections: a history of the development of American fiction periodicals from pre-Colonial times to the mid-1960s; some guidelines for valuing vintage fiction magazines; a cover art gallery highligting the work of 125 vintage-era artists; and a price guide.
It took well over a century for American writers to have an impact on popular literature. Until the mid-1800s, most of the content of the magazines being published was “borrowed” from English and other foreign publications. (Copyright laws were non-existent.) However, by 1850, American writers began producing work for the fiction-based periodicals that had become popular.
The driving force for what is termed “popular fiction,” according to Canja, is “to give the people what they want.” Adventure, romance, and violence are its essential elements, and the triumph of good over evil its perennial theme.
“Intended mainly for the working class,... popular fiction magazines were something of a guilty pleasure for tens of millions of readers... Sensational stories and provocative eye-catching covers were a must.”
These fictional periodicals were sold primarily on newsstands, and there were thousands of titles produced. Their popularity only diminished in the 1960s, when television and paperback novels supplanted them.
Today, however, there is collector interest in this earlier form of mass entertainment. This book offers practical information for those who wish to collect it. The prices shown in the price guide section all reflect an actual retail sale, either from a dealer or an auction. This should be a valuable guide for both dealers and collectors of popular fiction periodicals.
The second edition of Popular Fiction Periodicals (ISBN: 13: 978-0-9673639-8-1) is published by Glenmoor Publishing. It is priced at $29.95and has 1800 illustrations in 361 pages. Check with your local bookseller or order from Glenmoor Publishing, PO Box 4514, East Lansling, MI 48826. Please add $2.50 for postage if ordering from the publisher.

Donna Miller

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Levi Strauss’s Jeans Weren’t The Only
Blue Jeans Around

Blue jeans – probably the only article of clothing that has remained virtually unchanged since it was introduced in San Francisco in the late 1800s and is as popular now as it was then.
The brand Levi Strauss is certainly the most well known – in fact, the word levis is used more or less generically today to refer to blue jeans. However, there were at least a dozen other brands also in existence in the late 1800s, all providing the “miner’s denim” that was worn by the men heading in to the gold fields.

Companies such as Greenbaum Brothers, Harman Adams and Yung Chow, to name just three, found ways to avoid patent infringements on the Levi Strauss rivets and compete in this “fashion” market. The denims weren’t known as jeans at the time, however. In fact, in his patent application, Theodore R. Sloan referred to them as pantaloons. S. R. Krouse and several others called them overalls.

Amazingly, many of these old jeans are still in existence and they are the subject of Jeans of the Old West: A History, by Michael Allen Harris. Over 300 photographs, reproductions of patent drawings and histories of the manufacturers are included in the book.

A few other items from the Old West are also included, such as gloves, hats and buttons, that would have been worn by the miners.

Jeans of the Old West: A History (ISBN: 978-0-7643-3500-6) is a Schiffer publication. It is priced at $34.99. Check with your local bookseller or see the online catalog at www.schifferbooks.com.

Donna Miller

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