DepartmentAmerican Art

Vase

Artist George E. Ohr (1857 - 1919)

Datecirca 1900

MediumEarthenware, altered and glazed

DimensionsOverall: 6 1/2 × 21 7/16 in. (16.5 × 54.5 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Jordan Volpe Gallery

CopyrightPublic Domain

Object number1984.2.7

DescriptionOhr (1857-1919) shaped on the potter's wheel a bulbous earthenware vase with everted neck, then altered the form by twisting the neck, crimping the rim, and impressing eight "petals" in a circle to make an conventional eight-lobed flower on one side. The vase is covered overall with a dark green glaze having a vaguely iridescent surface. Ohr has long been hailed for his modernity, which may be defined generally by his rejection of the tyranny of the potter's wheel. As early as 1884, Ohr proclaimed his goal to make "no two [pieces] alike" in an era when potteries hoped to achieve a recognizable style of clay-handling, coloration, and motif in order to establish a niche in a competitive market. Although he expertly shaped his ware on a potter's wheel in the round, he then altered the form to demonstrate his denial of the classical standards to which most other potters of the time subscribed. His sources were contemporary and varied coming from a wide range of geographic locations, including England (Christopher Dresser's designs for Linthorpe Pottery, which were shown at the New Orleans Exhibition in 1884-85), rural Pennsylvania and the Midwest (traditional utilitarian potter's fair novelties and off-hand work), and Victorian porcelain with frilly rims and fancy handles. His twisting and crimping effects are decidedly Victorian in their excess.
ProvenanceFrom 1984
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston Salem, NC, given by the Jordan Volpe Gallery in 1984. [1]

Notes:
[1] Email correspondence with Barbara B. Millhouse, March 19, 2012.
Exhibition History
Published References

Status

On view