Edward T. Hurley

Edward T. Hurley (1869-1950) was a decorator at Rookwood from 1896 to 1948. [1] He graduated from Xavier College in 1887 and studied at the Cincinnati Art Academy, where he developed skill as an etcher. He exhibited his etchings at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; Art Institute of Chicago; National Academy of Design, New York City; Herron Institute, Indianapolis (now the Indianapolis Museum of Art); and Cincinnati Art Museum. His work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Library of Congress; Brooklyn Museum of Art; Detroit Institute of Art; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; and many other places.

In 1904, he won a Gold Medal at the St. Louis world's fair for his painting on Rookwood pottery. He had a deep love of nature and frequently photographed trees and landscapes in the countryside surrounding Cincinnati. His son remembered that Hurley "described trees as admirable and strong, asserting that they had souls and character and were personable. On family outings he often took care to point out the specific characters of trunks and growing branches." [2]

Notes:

[1] Hurley's biography is taken from Virginia Raymond Cummins, Rookwood Pottery Potpourri (Cincinnati: Cincinnati Art Galleries, 1991), p. 52.

[2] Hurley is quoted in Kenneth R. Trapp, Ode to Nature: Flowers and Landscapes of the Rookwood Pottery, 1880-1940 (New York: Jordan-Volpe Gallery, 1980), p. 65.