Recline by Wayland Gregory (KS/NJ, 1905-1971), an authorized reproduction cast by Museum Pieces, Inc., signed in cast, stone-like composite material, dimensions - 14 1/2" (w) x 8 1/2" (d) x 12 1/2" (h)
 
Waylande Desantis Gregory was one of the most innovative and prolific American art-deco ceramic sculptors of the early 20th century. His groundbreaking techniques enabled him to create monumental ceramic sculptures, such as the Fountain of the Atoms and Light Dispelling Darkness, which before had not been possible. He also developed revolutionary glazing and processing methods, and was a seminal figure in the studio glass movement. From an early age he showed precocious artistic talent, beginning with small sculptures of animals, as well as a prodigious musical talent, even composing his own pieces. He at one time declared that he would no longer play pieces by Bach, but only original pieces he had written himself. After high school he moved to Kansas City to attend the Kansas City Art Institute, but immediately began to receive commissions for the sculptural decoration of the administration building at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, a statue of Pan for a Kansas City park, and a plaster relief sculpture for the Masonic Temple Building in Wichita. He later studied under renowned scupltor Lorado Taft at his Midway Studios at the Art Institute of Chicago, and then with potter R. Guy Cowan of Cowan Pottery in Cleveland. In 1932, Gregory became artist-in-residence at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. While there, he was able to further develop his craft as, for the first time, he had access to the precise control of an electric kiln. His sculptures evolved into more Italianate forms, with more volume and weight than before. In 1933, Gregory  moved to Metuchen, New Jersey, where he set up a workshop in the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company in Perth Amboy. This is where he created some of his first monumental ceramic sculptures. As director of sculpture for the Federal Art Project in New Jersey, he began work on the monumental Light Dispelling Darkness, which still stands in Roosevelt Park in Menlo Park, New Jersey. The Fountain of the Atoms was made for the 1939 New York World's Fair. Gregory achieved critical success and reached the peak of his artistic powers in the 1930s. After 1940, he no longer created monumental ceramic sculptures, but instead focused on production porcelains for leading retail stores such as Mary Ryan, Tiffany's, B. Altman and Company, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord and Taylor, Neiman Marcus, Bonwit Teller, Gump's, Hammacher Schlemmer, and many more. Gregory is also considered a pioneering studio glass artist. In 1942, Gregory filed a patent for his process of fusing glass to ceramic. In the remaining years, he would make money by teaching art classes, and also made regular appearances on the television show Ding Dong School.
 
Museum Pieces, Inc. was a mid 20th century company specializing in the production of high quality, museum authorized scuplture reproductions. Based in New York City, the company was particularly active during the 1950s and 1960s, creating replicas of classical, anicent, and modern sculptures for educational institutions, collectors, and interior designers.