After Brongniart: Defining the Word “Ceramic” and the Persistence of “Burnt Stuff”

Carr-Trebelhorn, Julia

As I have previously shown, Alexandre Brongniart established a coherent science of ceramics. By the mid-nineteenth century, Brongniart had popularised the term "la céramique" as a widely-applicable name for the field of pottery and porcelain making, and other related arts. In the Twentieth Century, ceramic manufacturing became increasingly technical. The inclusive field of artisans and industrialists that Brongniart had once envisioned was fracturing. Voices called for the separation of pottery making from experimental, industrial ceramics and the meaning of the term “ceramics” was hotly debated. Numerous etymologies were traced, but, as the predominant language of science transferred from French to English, none of the twentieth-century authors recognized Brongniart’s key role in the invention of the term. Critically, this language debate coincided with and reflected the global politics, nationalism, and warfare of the first half of the Twentieth Century.

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