Adam and Eve (1928): Art, History and Details

Adam and Eve (1928) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Cowan Pottery Studio (America, Rocky River, Ohio, 1920–1931); R. Guy Cowan (American, 1884–1957).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In a remarkable departure from tradition, this ceramic sculpture depicts Adam tempting Eve with the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. According to the Bible, it was Eve who offered Adam the apple which led to mankind's downfall, ushering sin and death into the world. Adam's loincloth indicates that he has become ashamed of his nudity, a sign of his fall from grace. This startling role reversal reflects Cowan's belief that men are more prone to moral temptation than women. In addition to its innovative iconography, the sculpture's rich color and elegant, rhythmic forms establish it as Cowan's finest work and a masterpiece of the American Art Deco aesthetic. Born to a family of potters in East Liverpool, Ohio, Cowan directed the Cowan Pottery studios in Lakewood (1912-17) and Rocky River (1919-32), Ohio. Cowan Pottery was among the foremost producers of American Art Deco pottery and ceramic sculpture. Cowan recruited many talented artists to work in his studios, including Thelma Frazier Winter, Edward Winter, Walter Sinz, Waylande Gregory, and Viktor Schreckengost.

Object facts

• Title: Adam and Eve
• Date: 1928
• Creator attribution: Cowan Pottery Studio (America, Rocky River, Ohio, 1920–1931); R. Guy Cowan (American, 1884–1957)
• Culture: America, Ohio, Cleveland
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: glazed ceramic
• Dimensions: Each: 35 x 26.7 x 8.2 cm (13 3/4 x 10 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1928.235

Collection credit

Educational Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Basset, Mark and Naumann, Victoria. Cowan Pottery and the Cleveland School. Atglen: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1997. pp. 121-2.
• R. Guy Cowan Entry Card to 1928 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
• Hawley, Henry. “Cowan Pottery and the Cleveland Museum of Art.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 76, no. 7 (September 1989): 238–263.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.