A Harrison McIntosh (1914-2016) stoneware expression is instantly recognizable and timeless, although distinctly Southern Californian. From his studio in Claremont, CA, McIntosh threw a harmonious aesthetic of clean lines and geometric symmetry together with an appreciation for natural forms, spanning a career of over 60 years.
Born in Vallejo, CA to artistically supportive parents, the family later moved to Los Angeles, where Harrison took his first ceramics class at University of Southern California under instructor Glenn Lukens. After serving in the Army during World War II, he returned to Los Angeles, where he honed his craft under Al King in 1947 and Richard Peterson at the Claremont Graduate School from 1948-1952. This time was formatively punctuated by a Bernard Leach seminar at Mills College in 1950 and a summer workshop led by his future wife Marguerite Wildenhain at Pond Farm in Guerneville, CA in 1953. Marguerite would prove to be his greatest champion and supporter, and her love of nature and design was a primary inspiration for his life’s work.
Aside from Marguerite, McIntosh also drew a profound inspiration from Japanese mingei ceramics. In the early 1950s, treasured Japanese potter Shoji Hamada toured the United States accompanied by Bernard Leach and philosopher Soetsu Yanagi, demonstrating the mingei techniques and philosophies that date back to the Momoyama period (late 16th century). Like many of his peers, McIntosh took to heart the “selflessness” and “spontaneity” that Hamada espoused as core tenets to the mingei process. McIntosh applied this approach, removing his ego and the intention of artfulness from his focus, allowing for an elegant simplicity and subtle perfectionism to emerge.
By the mid-1950s, his ceramics had become synonymous with the California aesthetic, which during the post-World War II era had grown into a design obsession marketed nationwide. His pottery vessels were featured in nationally distributed magazines such as “House Beautiful” and “Art and Architecture” alongside international designers like Isamu Noguchi, Peter Voulkos, George Nelson, and friend Sam Maloof. Locally, his work was staged in room vignettes that showcased the Modern aesthetic at such venues as the Los Angeles County Fair, California Design Shows at the Pasadena Art Museum, and shows held at the Pan Pacific Auditorium including the “California Living” show held in 1957, curated in tandem by McIntosh and Maloof.
Throughout his career, his work has been shown at Los Angeles institutions such as Bullocks Wilshire, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Louis Newman Galleries, and Frank Lloyd Gallery. Today, collections of his work can be found in museums around the world including LACMA, the American Craft Museum in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and The Louvre in Paris.
This example showcases McIntosh’s philosophy of form as function and features one of his signature pale green glazes with a clean line aesthetic. Perhaps it’s no accident that the form feels reminiscent of a poppy pod or a barrel cactus, two plants that are indigenous to the California landscape. Whether we are seeing a subliminal nod to the natural world or a pure expression of mingei spontaneity, this piece deftly displays the intersection of precision and whimsy from the champion of California homewares that makes a McIntosh vessel timelessly recognizable and cherished by many.
