Shaping a Legacy

The tradition of art pottery is strong on the Gulf Coast. The delightful eccentric, George E. Ohr, spent his life (1857-1918) in Biloxi making thousands of works in clay; Newcomb College in New Orleans developed a Pottery in 1895 to teach girls “a suitable occupation” in art; and Shearwater, a family business with strong ties to Newcomb, continues today. Each of these three became distinctive and highly collectable.

George Ohr around 1900

Ohr - “When I found the Potter’s wheel I felt it all over like a wild duck in water.”

The inside of the Pot-Ohr-E, 1896

George Ohr was a flamboyant eccentric genius. His pots are the most exploratory and the most expressive of American pottery until the mid twentieth century. Although he made many practical pieces to sustain a living in downtown Biloxi, his works are often more sculptural than functional, and his glazes are bright, varied, and often mixed on the same vessel. He used the whole spectrum of color from brilliants to metallics: the reds, blues, yellows, greens literally shout their presence.

But to Ohr “shape was everything,” and he often left the pots in a bisque state, unglazed. In his work, the decoration lies in the shaping of the clay. The form moves — dances, marches, twists, teases – often opening out and closing in, often carved and winged. Handles move like tendrils in counterpoint with the body. “Shape comes to the Potter as verses come to the poet,” he said, and “clay follows the fingers and the fingers follow the mind.”

A consummate craftsman, he could pull a pot so thin that it felt like paper and weighed the same. His friend and coworker, Joseph Meyer, was also a highly skilled potter “who could throw a fine piece of work faster than any man living” said Paul Cox, also a potter at Newcomb. Ohr’s work was so unique in itself that further decoration was rarely appropriate. But Meyer created classical shapes which formed a canvas for further design.

Joseph Meyer at his potter's wheel

Newcomb – “The Art School for Ambitious Young Women”

Newcomb College Pottery came out of the Arts and Crafts tradition begun in England by William Morris and John Ruskin. This late 19^th century movement sought to restore the high quality of hand crafting to offset the mass mediocrity of an assembly line taking place in the factories of the Industrial Revolution. Newcomb College for Women began in 1889 as part of Tulane University, and the pottery began six years later in 1895.

Newcomb Decorators, woodcut, Mary Francis Balsen, Special Collections, Howard-Tilton Library, Tulane University

“A vessel must be functional and also beautiful” was the teaching motto of Ellsworth and William Woodward, who shaped the study of art at Newcomb for thirty years. Each vase or bowl was thrown by a male potter since it was unseemly for Victorian girls to get into such a messy business. Joseph Meyer, the master potter during that time, threw over 60% of the Newcomb production. The college girls were only allowed to decorate the vessels, drawing the designs from the natural world found in New Orleans. “I see my designs in rain, sand, trees, landscape, people and clouds,” wrote Sadie Irvine, one of the most prolific decorators there. Each woman had “full freedom” of design and no two works were ever alike.

“Newcomb Girls Get Real Pay for Art Play” announced one paper around the turn of the century when the Newcomb Guild provided a sales outlet and also a small salary to full-time decorators. A woman could complete college and two years of graduate work and still earn a livelihood at the same time. Their work was of such high quality that the Tulane Jambalaya asserted “what beer did for Milwaukee, pottery did for Newcomb College!”

The glazes were primarily cobalt blues and sage greens with yellow and black added a little later. Touches of pink, white and lavender on designs give many of the vases that “delicacy that only young ladies can do.”

Peter, Walter and Mac Anderson at Shearwater

Shearwater – Anderson Art Pottery

Seventy-five years ago, Shearwater Pottery opened to the public. It was a family business with Annette McConnell Anderson providing the artistic impetus, and George Walter Anderson providing the business expertise. Their three sons, Peter, Walter, and Mac, were destined to become artists and be heavily involved in the success of this enterprise. Peter, the oldest, became the potter and studied with some of the most prestigious teachers in the country at that time, One of them, Charles Binns now known as the Father of American Studio Ceramics, taught that a “piece of pottery is essentially a vessel, but should not need a bouquet … to make it complete;” it should be complete in itself. This view of classical simplicity left a deep mark on Peter.

Peter Anderson

One of the Anderson’s resources in the early stages of the business was the pottery at Newcomb College. Annette had studied pottery there herself, and turned to her friend and professor, Mary Sheerer, for advice on the “scientific” questions of glazes and firing. The large kiln which evolved under the watchful eyes of other Newcomb faculty, Harry Rogers and Paul Cox, was used until 1997.

The Shearwater work was often similar to Newcomb in the classical shapes, but the glazes developed differently. Peter believed that it would be glazes that set it apart from other small potteries, and he began a “quiet, unostentatious sort of exploration” with form and color. Tiring of Turquoise Blue, Peter looked for “not just colors but textures and effects. Almost emotion. Glazes you can’t take your hands off.” With the help of his wife Patricia, Peter gave these new glazes poetic names like Blue Rain, Hyacinth, Grey Cloud, Desert Sage, Fall Green, and Wisteria.

When Walter and Mac returned from college, they began to decorate pots, make figurines, and help build a showroom which opened to the public, January 19, 1928, and the family business was officially born.

In less than 10 years, Shearwater pieces by Peter, Mac, and Walter were displayed in Lord & Taylor and Strawbridge, the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston, Marshall Field and company in Chicago, studios in New York City and Philadelphia, exhibitions at Syracuse University and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and toured the United States with the Robineau exhibition.

Shearwater pottery often took on a world of story, myth, and sports, as well as the flora and fauna of the Coast. Decoration was scratched, cut, carved, and painted. Whimsy and epic alike took life from the color and form surrounding them, and it is this unique pairing that has produced the greatest Shearwater works.

Postscript

Ironically, all of these potters gravitated to this area, and their paths often converged. The Woodward brothers moved to Biloxi after retiring from Newcomb, and visited Shearwater often. Joseph Meyer had a home near the beach in Biloxi and a summer home and studio on Deer Island adjacent to Ocean Springs. His friend, George Ohr, lived and died in Biloxi. Annette Anderson bought George Ohr’s kickwheel at auction in 1924 thinking it might excite an interest in pottery for her sons. Mrs. Anderson, who graduated from Newcomb, dabbled in pottery while there, and cultivated strong friendships with faculty who were instrumental in the start-up of the Anderson pottery. Although solvency is necessary in any business, the aim was never to make a lot of money in any of the three potteries, but to make a living by producing useful vessels in a beautiful way.

Art pottery has thrived on the Coast ever since, national reputations made, and history written in pots. The works of Ohr are well known in New York and are in collections of notable critics and artists of the 20^th century. Newcomb stands with Rookwood and other great Arts and Crafts potteries of the turn of the century, its elegant work is richly collectable and highly regarded. Ohr died in 1918, Newcomb closed in 1940, only Shearwater maintains its rich tradition, and continues in its purpose of blending the useful and beautiful. Its work is on exhibition in the Smithsonian Institution on its 75^th anniversary standing as a tribute to its legacy, the Gulf Coast, and to the Anderson family.

Acknowledgments

This exhibition is a part of the Anderson in Context series which places Walter Anderson, Peter Anderson and James McConnell Anderson into the larger art world of their time and place. Since this is the 75^th anniversary of Shearwater Potter as well as the centennial of Walter Anderson’ s birth, it seemed appropriate to explore the art potteries of the Gulf Coast and their interconnectedness.

The Walter Anderson Museum of Art has collaborated with the Ohr-O’Keefe Museums and with Newcomb Gallery of Tulane University in programs and in public relations materials for this event. We owe special thanks to Katherine Lochridge, Chief Curator of the Ohr O’Keefe Museums; Sally Main, Curator of the Newcomb School Collection Gallery of Tulane University; Jim Anderson of Shearwater Pottery; Jean Bragg of Jean Bragg Antiques in New Orleans; Dod Stewart; Honey Chatham; Earl and Hema Denham; Christopher and Kristen Hogan; Marjorie Anderson Ashley; and Sarah Anderson. They have been both generous and gracious in their loans to the exhibition and in providing information about the art potteries of the coast. Dr. Bill Meneray, Chair of Special Collections for the Howard Tilton Library of Tulane University, gave permission to use vintage photographs from the Newcomb School collection, and Jessie Poesch, Professor of Art History has made her encyclopedic knowledge of the Newcomb venture available through her book and discussion. The families of Walter Anderson, Peter Anderson, and Mac Anderson continue to provide support through artifacts and art works.