Clara Barck Welles American, 1868 - 1965 Kalo Workshop, manufacturer (Park Ridge, Illinois) Pitcher, 1916 H. 8 x W. 10 1/4 in.

A staunch supporter of women’s causes, American designer Clara Barck Welles also strongly advocated modernism. With her husband, she established a workshop behind her home near Chicago in 1900, naming it Kalo (from the Greek word for beautiful). Initially, she concentrated on making hand-crafted leather objects and textiles, but eventually shifted her focus to jewelry and metalware. This silver pitcher dates to 1916 and is remarkable for its geometric simplicity.