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This is a revealing and insightful re-contextualisation of the work of potter George Ohr, showing him to be more thoughtful and artful than eccentric. The late 19th-century potter, George Ohr, was considered an eccentric in his time but has emerged as a major figure in American art since the discovery of thousands of examples of his work in the 1960s. Currently, Ohr is celebrated as a solitary genius who foreshadowed modern art movements. While an intriguing narrative, this view offers a narrow understanding of the man and his work that has hindered serious consideration. In this expansive study of Ohr and his works, author Ellen Lippert argues against this viewpoint. Instead, she interprets his stylistic originality to be expressions of the contradictions and oppositions particular to late 19th-century America. Ohr threw his inspiration into being both the sophisticate and the "rube," (country bumpkin) the commercial huckster and the selfless artist, the socialist and the individualist, the "old-fashioned" craftsman and the "artist-genius." He created art pottery as both a saleable commodity and a priceless creation. His work could be ugly and deformed (or even obscene) and beautiful. Lippert reveals that far from isolated, Ohr and his creations were very much products of his inspired engagement with his era.
