George Ohr

My post today is about the pottery of George Ohr (1857-1918). When it comes to form Ohr was ahead of his time. Whereas most of the potters of his time were relegated to the role of skilled craftsmen who created wares that were made to be functional and little else, Ohr made shapes, and forms that really hadn't been seen before. He often made pottery purely for art's sake, choosing to make the object look revolutionary, instead practicality be his first priority. As a result he was quite obscure, and gained little notoriety outside of his community of Biloxi, Mississippi. He work wouldn't become well known until a dealer found 10,000 pieces above Ohr's son's garage, well over 40 after Ohr's death. His work has a fluidity and imaginativeness that doesn't seem to be present in the works of other potters until the mid to late 20th or even 21st century. Every one of his forms seem to be different and have an elegance all its own. Often regarded as the world's first art potter, Ohr's work continues to influence potters around the world to this day.