George Edgar Ohr
Creamer
1902-1906
Physical Qualities
Glazed earthenware, 3 1/2 x 5 3/8 in. (8.9 x 13.7 cm)
Credit Line
Decorative Arts Acquisitions Endowment established by the Friends of the American Wing, and purchase with exchange funds from Gift of Marianne Hiller
Object Number
2003.138
George Ohr, the self-proclaimed “Mad Potter of Biloxi,” made pottery with paper-thin walls, rippling curves, and crumpled forms. Working from his five-story, pagodashaped store in the tourist town of Biloxi, Mississippi, Ohr used local clay fired in a homemade kiln and painted with his own glazes to craft ceramics which defy practicality and redefine creativity. Ohr professed his ingenuity unabashedly, posting signs in front of his store reading: “UNEQUALED.-UNRIVALED.-UNDISPUTED.-GREATEST.- ART POTTER ON EARTH."
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2003; David Rago, Lambertville, New Jersey
Anita Jones, Baltimore Museum of Art, "Woven Rainbows: American Indian Trade Blankets," November 9, 2005-June 11, 2006
Markings: Marked with stamped lettering: "GEO. E. OHR./BILOXI MISS."