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Overbeck Pottery
American
A brief history of the Overbeck Family (Excerpt from The Overbeck Museum website.)
Undoubtedly the name Overbeck has brought more world-wide attention to Cambridge City than any other name during its existence. So it behooves us to give honor and recognition to the Overbeck sisters in the pages of history. The Overbeck family migrated from Virginia to find a new home in eastern Indiana. The father and mother were educated, cultured people; their family consisted of six daughters and one son. Four of the daughters were intimately connected with the pottery, but it is the Misses Elizabeth and Mary who were actively engaged in the work. Miss Margaret, who was an art teacher in DePauw University is accredited with starting the making of pottery in 1911.
Miss Elizabeth, the potter, studied at New York State School of Clay Working and Ceramics under Prof. Charles F. Binns. Miss Mary, the designer, studied at Columbia University. Their work was all done in their studio workshop and home--the complete process from preparing the clay to the final firing of the pottery. Quality was their aim, not quantity; in fact, only a few hundred pieces were turned out each year.
Miss Harriet was a musician and not connected with pottery. Miss Hannah was an invalid and designer.
The pottery was all hand made on the potter's wheel or hand built (the same method the Indian's used). The wheel-made pieces generally have a smooth surface--the hand-built a surface uneven, showing dim finger marks. Each piece was specially designed and never duplicated--both shape and decoration being used only once. The glazes were originated by Miss Elizabeth and were the potter's exclusive property. In this work every effort was made to harmonize the decoration perfectly with the piece decorated. One of the sisters quoted: "So far our work has been experimental, but it is at least as original as possible. Whatever its merits or demerits, it is a thoroughly American product."
The Overbeck Sisters were four women potters and artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement who worked in Cambridge City, Indiana, from 1911 until 1955.
The group included Margaret (July 3, 1863-August 13, 1911), Hannah Borger (March 14, 1870-August 28, 1931), Elizabeth Gray (October 21, 1875-December 1, 1936) and Mary Frances (January 28, 1878-March 20, 1955). Sisters Ida and Harriet and a brother Charles were not involved in their sisters' artistic pursuits. The family spelled their name "Overpeck" until 1911. The last of the sisters died in 1955.
The sisters were known initially for their Arts and Crafts-style pottery, watercolors and distinctive matte pottery glazes. Margaret and Mary Frances studied with the influential designer Arthur Wesley Dow. In later years, the sisters produced pieces of more modern styles with shiny glazes and small grotesque figural pieces of people and animals. A number of Overbeck oil paintings, mostly of birds, are also known to exist. A number of their early designs were published in Keramic Magazine.
Overbeck pottery is widely collected and the Indianapolis Museum of Art mounted an exhibition of Overbeck work in 2007. Significant collections of Overbeck work is found at the Richmond Art Museum and in the Cambridge City Public Library whose core collection was a gift of Overbeck scholar Kathleen Postle. In addition, outstanding pieces are found in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and other museums and private collections. A collection of Overbeck pottery was featured on the 2006 episode of the Antiques Roadshow from Houston, Texas.
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