Harriet Coulter Joor (1875–1965) was an American artist, writer, textile and ceramics designer, and pottery decorator. Joor was among the earliest graduates of

H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, or Newcomb College, was the coordinate women's college of Tulane University located in New Orleans, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was founded by Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1886 in memory of her daughter ...

, and was one of the original producers of

Newcomb Pottery Newcomb Pottery, also called Newcomb College Pottery, was a brand of American Arts & Crafts pottery produced from 1895 to 1940. The company grew out of the pottery program at H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, the women's college now associated w ...

Early life

Harriet "Hattie" Coulter Joor was born in January 1875 to Joseph F. Joor, a professor of botany at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

, and E. H. Joor. Joor came to New Orleans in 1888 when her father was appointed Assistant Curator of Tulane University's Natural History Museum, and she enrolled in courses at H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College as an adolescent.

Education

Harriet Joor enrolled in Newcomb College in 1887, and was among the first students in the Normal Art program. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in 1895 and was then enrolled as a Special Art Student from 1896-1900. In the summer of 1900, Joor was awarded a $125 scholarship to attend

Arthur Wesley Dow Arthur Wesley Dow (1857 – December 13, 1922) was an American painter, printmaker, photographer and an arts educator. Early life Arthur Wesley Dow was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1857. Dow received his first art training in 1880 from An ...

's summer art institute in Ipswich. Joor then returned to New Orleans to study Graduate Art at Newcomb College from 1900-1901. On her time at Newcomb College, Joor wrote:

. . . many memories of those beginning days of Newcomb in the tiny vine-covered brick building that housed the college heating plant! We were so like a little family group the few of us working at our tables with Mr. Meyer thumping out his vases at the wheel beside us, and the big round kiln looming up in the other corner of the room, with the splashed glazing table beside it! I loved so I sued to linger on and on, forgetting everything but the jar under my hand . . .

Joor participated in the hand-modeled pottery practice, also seen in the work of Leona Nicholson. Joor's pottery that was not made on the wheel included objects like tea sets and small cones.

Career

After graduating from Newcomb College, Joor taught pottery at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

's School of Education. In 1906, she took a position as a staff writer at ''

The Craftsman Craftsman may refer to: A profession *Artisan, a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative *Master craftsman, an artisan who has achieved such a standard that he may establish his own workshop and take o ...

''. After leaving Chicago, Joor set up a homestead in Ada,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

between 1911 and 1912, living in a sod house. In 1923, Joor began teaching art at Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, now

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

Exhibitions

Joor exhibited around the country, and in 1900 in Paris at the

Paris Exposition Universelle The Exposition Universelle of 1889 () was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 5 May to 31 October 1889. It was the fourth of eight expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It attracted more than thirty-two million visitors. The ...

. In 1904, three pieces of Joor's pottery were exhibited at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri. Joor's pottery was included in the 2014 Smithsonian survey ''Women, Art, and Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise'', which toured nationally. In 1908, five pieces of embroidery by Joor were listed with the color, motif, and price in the Catalogue of the Fifth Annual Exhibition of the Art Association of New Orleans, Newcomb Art Gallery, Corner of Camp and Sixth Streets, March 14–28, 1908, including one bag and four scarves.

Recognition

Harriet Joor received the Neill Medal for her watercolor paintings.

Artistic legacy

Works by Harriet Joor are in the permanent collections of a number of art museums, includin
The Newcomb Art MuseumThe New Orleans Museum of Art
an
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
among others. In 2013, her work was included in, "Women, Art and Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise" at the Newcomb Art Gallery.

Auction history

A vase decorated with incised gardenias by Harriet Coulter was listed by Jean M. Bragg Gallery as Catalog No. 94 for $18,000 in 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joor, Harriet Coulter 20th-century American women artists American women painters 1875 births 1965 deaths Tulane University alumni University of Louisiana at Lafayette faculty University of Chicago faculty American women academics