Stark Museum of Art
Orange, TX
409-883-6661
http://www.starkmuseum.org/
Edward Marshall Boehm (1913-1969):
Ceramic Sculptures
On view at
the Stark Museum of Art through August, 2001 is a newly installed display,
Nestlings and Fledglings, featuring twenty-five hand-painted porcelain
figures of birds by American sculptor Edward Marshall Boehm (1913-1969).
Drawn from a large collection of decorative porcelains in the Stark collection,
some of the pieces in the this show are exhibited for the first time. All
are limited-edition figures representing birds native to Texas, in particular
young birds in the nest and others out of the nest, but not fully feathered
or capable of sustained flight.
Orphaned at an early age, Edward Marshall Boehm was reared
and educated at the McDonogh School near Baltimore, Maryland, where he first
developed an interest in the observation and sketching of animals and birds,
At sixteen years of age, he left school to find work as a cattle manager,
and while exhibiting prize stock at shows on Long Island, New York, after
World War II, began modelling figures of dogs and horses in clay, Desiring
to give 
his
sculptures permanence and color, he undertook the study of ceramics, particularly
the art of porcelain, in which production he came in time to greatly excel.
At a studio established in Trenton, New Jersey, he produced most of the
pieces for which he is best known today, his first subjects being farm animals,
for which he found a popular market in the early 1950s. In 1954 Boehm's
wife Helen, who acted as his commercial agent, presented a casting of one
of his animal figures to Mamie Eisenhower at the White House, From this
time, Boehm's fame was assured, and his output of decorated porcelains greatly
increased. (left: Blue Jay, porcelain, hand painted, Collection
of Stark Museum of Art, 41.2/27A)
Finest of all his works is a large series of colored figures
of American birds, issued in limited 
editions, and now much sought after by collectors,
All of these were designed at the Boehm studios, and decorated and fired
by a staff of artists for the most part trained by Boehm himself. Many of
his bird figures were derived from captured, live specimens at the Boehm
aviary and gardens on the Delaware River, where Boehm died of a heart attack
in January, 1969. Notable examples of his work have been in the collections
of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Great Britain's royal family,
and President and Mrs. Richard M, Nixon. Probably the largest single collection
of his porcelain bird creations belongs to the Nelda C. and H. J. Lutcher
Stark Foundation in Orange, Texas. In 1972 a life-size casting of a pair
of mute swans, designated as "The 
Bird of Peace," was presented by Nixon to Mao
Tse-Tung of the Peoples' Republic of China. See Frank J. Cosentino's Boehm's
Birds (New York, 1960). (right: Flicker, porcelain, hand
painted, Collection of Stark Museum of Art, 41.2/60)
Creating objects in porcelain involves many complex steps
and specialized skills. Its ultimate success requires the careful coordination
of all phases of the process, from the modeling of the clay figure ro the
casting and firing of the finished piece at temperatures that may reach
as high as 2400 degrees Fahrenheit. In the 1950's, American ceramicist Edward
Marshall Boehm achieved notable results in this difficult medium. perfecting
a technique whereby he produced large editions of decorared figures in a
hard, translucent porcelain allowing for a remarkable detailing of individual
pieces. (left: Wood Thrush, porcelain, hand painted, Collection
of Stark Museum of Art, 41.2/39B)
Text and images courtesy of the Stark Museum of Art.
rev. 5/28/01
See more articles on American sculpture in this magazine:
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Museum of Art in Resource Library Magazine
Please click on thumbnail images bordered by a red line
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For further biographical information please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national
registry of historic artists.
This page was originally published in Resource
Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for
more information. rev. 5/28/11
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his
sculptures permanence and color, he undertook the study of ceramics, particularly
the art of porcelain, in which production he came in time to greatly excel.
At a studio established in Trenton, New Jersey, he produced most of the
pieces for which he is best known today, his first subjects being farm animals,
for which he found a popular market in the early 1950s. In 1954 Boehm's
wife Helen, who acted as his commercial agent, presented a casting of one
of his animal figures to Mamie Eisenhower at the White House, From this
time, Boehm's fame was assured, and his output of decorated porcelains greatly
increased. (left: Blue Jay, porcelain, hand painted, Collection
of Stark Museum of Art, 41.2/27A)
