Mud Babies: Curious ancestors of abstract art movement?

[William Palmer]

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES of December 3, 2002 featured
an interesting article about the man who just may have
invented abstract art. The article focused on George
Ohr, a primitive folk artist who sometimes called the
"Mad Potter of Biloxi" (Mississippi). Though no one
can deny that artist Ohr was quite an original, his
unique pottery was ignored by the art establishment
during his life. The TIMES articled explains that
after Ohr died in 1918, thousands of pieces of his
pottery were left "to languish in a dusty car repair
shop." Yet today, Ohr's "mud babies," as he termed
them, are selling for $20,000 each! According to THE
TIMES, Ohr--although "dismissed by many contemporaries
as a grandstanding buffoon"--may "have been among
the world's pioneering abstract artists." George
Ohr admirably overcame both the poverty of his youth
and his lack of formal education to learn to do
something entirely original with his considerable
talents in order to express his artistic yearnings.
In less determined individuals the desire for creative
expression might well have been crushed out at an
early age due the hardships faced by those in Ohr's
social and economic strata. In pondering Ohr and
his work, I can't help but think about the pretentious
artsy-fartsies with their fine-art education and
training who are praised by the art establishment for
producing rubbish that has none of the uniqueness,
charm, and bizarre fascination of George Ohr's
amazing mud babies. a.g.b-p