Women in American Ceramics, 1875-1945


Women in American Ceramics, 1875-1945

August 30, 2008 – March 22, 2009

Mint Museum of Art - Levine Gallery

 

MARY LOUISE MCLAUGHLIN. American, 1847-1939.

Plate.

2006.102.161

 

Women in American Ceramics exhibition page on the Mint Museum website

 

Overview

As a result of the Industrial Revolution, many products were mass produced but were of poor quality. In reaction, the demand for quality handiwork increased in the late 19th and early 20th century, forming the basis for the Arts and Crafts Movement. This movement affected all aspects of the decorative arts from furniture to bookbinding and was particularly influential in pottery, resulting in the American Art Pottery Movement. Major pottery manufacturers sprang up in places like New Orleans, Louisiana as well as Cincinnati, and Zanesville, Ohio creating a demand for jobs. Because there were limited opportunities for women during this time, the job openings created by the Art Pottery Movement were the perfect place for women, married or single, to make a respectable living. Sequestered to the decoration of pottery for the most part, due to the common idea that no woman would want to get her hands dirty thowing a vase, they saw a window of opportunity for self expression, and used it to its fullest extent: inventing new techniques, experimenting with glazes, and educating themselves and others. Their influence on pottery as an artform is the focus of this exhibition.

 

Artists

Coyne, Sara "Sallie" Elizabeth

 

Field, Abbie Tylor

 

Fry, Laura Anne (1857-1943)

 

Grotell, Maija (1899-1973)

 

Harwell, Edith (1904-1982)

 

Hilton, Clara Maude Cobb (1885-1969)

 

Irvine, Sadie (1887-1970)

 

Levy, Sarah Bloom (?-1955)

 

Liley, Florence S.

 

Lingenfelter, Elizabeth N. (1880-1957)

 

Lonnegan, Ada Wilt (?-1963)

 

McLaughlin, Mary Louise (1847-1939)

 

Newton, Clara Chipman (1848-1936)

 

Pillsbury, Hester 

 

Plimpton, Cordelia A. Busnell (1830-1886)

 

Rice, Julia H.