Talavera of Puebla and Bauer of Los Angeles

In Jack Chipman's excellent monograph "Collector's Encyclopedia of Bauer Pottery" Mr. Chipman muses about the development of the new opaque glaze colors. He points out that it was primarily a business decision but why choose bold new color schemes? There was surely an awareness at Bauer of the local success of smaller kilns like Catalina Clay Products and Brayton Laguna along with a need to direct sales away from the ebbing market of utilitarian stoneware. I want to suggest that to influence their decision, all they had to do was look around them at the abundant Mexican pottery and tile work present in 1920's Los Angeles.