Daniel Cottier 1838-1891

 The firm of Cottier & Co. was founded by the artist, designer, decorator and art dealer Daniel Cottier (1838-1891). Cottier had trained as a coach painter in Glasgow but by the 1860s was working as a glass designer in London where he heard lectures given by the critic John Ruskin and received drawing lessons from the artist Ford Madox Brown. Returning to Scotland he opened his own business in 1864, which would grow to become a highly successful international organisation with branches in London, New York, Sydney and Melbourne.

A key exponent of the aesthetic movement, Cottier developed an original and highly distinctive style, employing delicately painted surface decoration often on gold or ebonised ground. His designs frequently drew on the prevailing Japanese style associated with the aesthetic movement but also on Egyptian and Greek sources.

Cottier was interested in all manner of interiors: glass, furniture, ceramic manufacture, and interior design itself. In the United States he is seen as a “harbinger of aestheticism… and a profound influence on American decoration”. In 1873 he opened a workshop in New York and his first major stained-glass commission in America was for Trinity Church in Boston (1878-79). He is generally credited with being the first to introduce the Aesthetic style to the US.

We are actively seeking consignments of work by Daniel Cottier. Please contact us with details or to enquire after available works by this artist.