Rago Auctions

Albert R. Valentien and Anna Marie Valentien (née Buchdrucker or Bookprinter) were each born in Cincinnati in 1862. Albert trained at the Cincinnati Art Academy, where Anna also studied in the evenings after pursuing initial coursework at the McMichen School of Design. They were both employed at Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati from 1884 to 1905. Albert rose to the position of chief ceramics decorator and Anna was likewise a very skilled decorator at Rookwood. The couple married in 1887. They were sent to Paris in 1899 to pursue further training leading up to the Exposition Universelle of 1900, where Rookwood exhibited and won a gold medal. During that trip, Anna studied with famed sculptor Auguste Rodin. By contrast, Albert focused more on painted work.

In 1903, Albert and Anna took a vacation to California and became enamored with the landscape. Two years later, they retired from Rookwood and eventually relocated to San Diego for good in 1908. They established their own short-lived studio, Valentien Pottery, from 1911 to 1913. Given that they produced a limited number of works during this period, which were either molded with low relief or plain shapes, Valentien Pottery examples (marked 'VP') are quite rare and highly sought after by collectors. Albert and Anna also had the luxury of time to focus more on each individual piece of pottery they produced with the local clay, which was generally considered to be of very fine quality.

While in California, Albert made around 1,200 watercolors of the state's flora on commission from philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps. These so-called "plant portraits" were supposed to be published together, but that never came to pass. Today most are housed at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Anna taught sculpture and handcrafts at the San Diego Evening High School and continued her artistic endeavors, earning recognition and two gold medals at the Panama–California Exposition. Albert passed away in 1925 and Anna in 1947, together leaving a significant legacy on the worlds of art and art pottery.