Creator Record
Metadata
Name |
Potter: Meyer, Joseph Fortune |
Notes |
Joseph F. Meyer was born of Alsatian parents, Francois Antoine Meyer and Jeanne Françoise Begin in the village of Buthiers, Haute-Saone, France on February 19, 1848. The Meyer family were potters for several generations. Francois A. Meyer left France for America settling in Biloxi, Mississippi circa 1851. His family joined him in 1857. Francois A. Meyer owned a home and store in the Back Bay section of Biloxi. Here he also made pottery. Joseph Meyer attended school and learned to pot from his father. In 1860, a hurricane destroyed the Meyer store and pottery. Conditons worsened when Francois developed rheumatism and the Civil War came to the Mississippi coast with its economically devastating sea blockade. Francois relocated to New Orleans to find work. Joseph Meyer, then fourteen, supported the family by rowing deserters and unfortunate victims of the war to sanctuary on Ship Island, a barrier island south of Biloxi. In 1862, Meyer joined his father in New Orleans. Francois A. Meyer lived on St. Bernard Avenue, and worked as a potter in an old milk barn near City Park. Joseph Meyer stayed with his father at the pottery until his death in 1870. In 1885, Ellsworth Woodward and his brother William, artists from Massachusetts, founded the Ladies' Decorative Art League in New Orleans. Since the Woodward brothers were visual artists and not ceramicists, they hired Joseph F. Meyer to construct a kiln and throw the green ware for their Baronne Street operation. Meyer built a kiln similar to those used by French folk potters. By 1890, the Ladies' Decorative Art League was in decline and was reorganized as the New Orleans Art Pottery Club. Joseph F. Meyers and spouse returned to Biloxi. At his Biloxi home, Joseph Meyer boarded guests and did some ceramic work. However, in 1894 Joseph F. Meyer received an invitation from the Woodward brothers to erect a catenary kiln for the Newcomb Art School and subsequently returned to New Orleans. In 1896, he joined the staff at Newcomb. Joseph F. Meyer remained as potter of the Newcomb Art School from 1896 until his retirement in 1927. His tenure at this institution was marked by the production of large volumes of high quality ceramic wares, which generally conformed to standard pottery shapes, although his miniature "Ali Baba" jars were considered unique. Meyer was not a decorator, but seriously experimented with glazes and consistently studied the relationships between color, heat, and silicate chemistry. Another of his many assets was his ability to coordinate with the individual decorators on their designs. In 1904, Meyer lost the sight in an eye due to a cataract and needed an assistant from this time until he threw is last pot for student decoration in 1925. He died in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 16, 1931. |
Nationality |
French-American |
Occupation |
Potter |
