George E. Ohr, American Potter, 1857 to 1918)
Starting as a potter in New Orleans with his friend Joseph Meyer, George Ohr is often referred to as The Mad Potter of Biloxi, calling his creations “mud babies” and his shop the “Pot-Ohr-E”. The mud babies had incredibly thin, pinched, crimped and fluted and maniupled walls in an unlimited number of creative forms.
With his two-foot mustache Ohr was an attraction along the Gulf Coast, acting crazy to attract tourists into his shop and peddling many of his wares at county fairs to eak out a living while proclaiming himself the “unequaled, unrivaled, undisputed, greatest art pot-Ohr on earth.” He sold when he had to, but hated to part with his work.
The George E. Ohr Arts and Cultural Center was established in Ohr’s hometown of Biloxi in October 1994 and features hundreds of Ohr’s creations. Critics long dismissed his work as too eccentric and ornate, but collectors led by such icons as Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol have steadily recognized its creative integrity and have paid as much as $100,000 for a single pot.