Harrison McIntosh

Harrison McIntosh
Born	September 11, 1914 Vallejo, California, US
Died	January 21, 2016 (aged 101) Claremont, California, US
Nationality	American
Education	Claremont Graduate School

Harrison Edward McIntosh (11 September 1914 – 21 January 2016) was an American ceramic artist. He was an exponent of the Mid-century Modern style of ceramics, featuring simple symmetrical forms. His work has been exhibited in venues in the United States including the Smithsonian and internationally including at the Louvre in Paris.

Biography

Harrison Edward McIntosh was born in Vallejo, California to Harrison McIntosh, a ragtime piano player, and Jesusita McIntosh née Coronado.^[1] McIntosh grew up in Stockton, California, where his father worked for Sperry Flour Company. At the time, the city of Stockton was building the Haggin Museum, which first inspired McIntosh’s interest in the arts and architecture.^[2] In high school, McIntosh and his younger brother Robert McIntosh took informal painting lessons with Arthur Haddock. Both McIntosh and his brother continued to pursue art after high school; Robert as a painter and Harrison as sculptor.^[3] Two years after McIntosh graduated in 1933, he became a camp artist at a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, while his brother Robert received a scholarship to attend Art Center School, now Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. In 1937, after almost two years as a camp artist with the CCC, McIntosh moved down to Los Angeles and took classes at Art Center for six months.^[1]

In 1942, McIntosh married fellow artist Mary Stanfield. With the United States' involvement in World War II, however, he was drafted into the army as a medic in Northern California. During this time, McIntosh’s wife became critically ill, and he was discharged to care for her. After six years of marriage, Stanfield died.^[1]

In 1948, McIntosh was able to use the GI Bill to study ceramics in the MFA program through the Claremont Graduate School directed by Millard Sheets.^[4] There, he studied ceramics under Richard Petterson at Scripps College, in addition to attending workshops with Bernard Leach at Mills College, with Shōji Hamada the Japanese ceramicist during his US tour, and with Marguerite Wildenhain at Pond Farm during the summer of 1953.^[5] McIntosh also met his second wife, Marguerite Loyau, in one of Petterson’s classes at Scripps College. Loyau was visiting from France on a Fullbright Scholarship to teach French at Pomona College. They married in 1952 and two years later gave birth to their daughter, Catherine McIntosh. Marguerite became her husband’s business manager, often collaborating with him on design projects and organizing exhibitions of his work.^[2]

In the first two decades of his career, McIntosh sold his work at various home-furnishing stores such as Bullocks Wilshire, Van Kepple Green in Beverly Hills, and Abacus in Pasadena. McIntosh also worked as an employee at Metlox Manufacturing Company in the 1950s and at Interpace International Pipe and Ceramics Corporation in the 1960s. From 1970 to 1980, McIntosh and his wife travelled to Japan during the summers to jointly design dinnerware and glassware collections for Mikasa.^[3]

Over his more than 60-year career, McIntosh had 43 solo exhibitions. He is represented in over 40 art collections, including the Smithsonian Institute’s Renwick Gallery in Washington D.C., the Louvre in Paris, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Mingei Museum in Japan.

References

1. "Oral history interview with Harrison McIntosh, 1999 Feb. 24-Mar. 4". www.aaa.si.edu. Archives of American Art. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
2. Muchnic, Suzanne (2009-09-24). "Harrison McIntosh, ceramics virtuoso". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
3. "Harrison McIntosh September 11, 1914 - January 21, 2016". American Museum of Ceramic Art. 2016-01-21. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
4. "Harrison McIntosh, Southland artist who pushed ceramics' boundaries, dies at 101". LA Times.
5. Shaykett, Jessica. "All His Own". craftcouncil.org. Retrieved 2016-04-06.