Passage 4/5

Rotary York-Ainsty — 7 years ago

R. C. Münster-St. Mauritz At the end of the 19th century, the English Arts and Crafts Movement, inspired by Morris and Ruskin, strongly influenced artistic life on the continent. "Art Nouveau" in France and "Jugendstil" in Germany were the results. Like their English contemporaries, Jugendstil-artists took interest in the revivement (sic) of traditional handcrafts, for instance in pottery. One of the important German pottery areas was the Westerwald, a mountainous district in the south of the State of Northrhine – Westfalia which Muenster and the Muensterland are part of. The outstanding Westerwald pottery in the beginning of the 20th century was the Merkelbach firm, which invited prominent "Jugendstil" artists to design potteries in the Westerwald tradition but with a high contemporary artistic standard. Pottery ware of that kind is rare today and sought for by collectors. Last year, Merkelbach, now owned by Goebel Porcelain Manufacturers, decided to recast several models of that time, using the original moulds. These replica were issued for sale in limited, numbered series. One of these, a Merkelbach jug, designed 1908 by Professor Wynand, number 185 out of 1.000, is dedicated to the members of RC York-Ainsty by the members of RC Muenster-St.Mauritz on occasion of their contact meeting 1987 in York as a token of Rotarian friendship between the two clubs. (Signed) (Ralph Beaucamp) (Meyer-Schwickerath) Präsident Vizepräsident