Edward Marshall Boehm (1913 – 1969) achieved recognition by heads of state and leading connoisseurs of fine hard-paste porcelain for artistic and technical excellence, not only in the United States but widely throughout the world. ”The image and likeness of God’s world is seen at once in the work of Edward Marshall Boehm. It is not an elusive and esoteric expression like so much of contemporary art. Clarity is its first quality. Its grandeur is in its perfection. It is a disciplined art, mastering the demands of the ancient and distinguished craft of porcelain making,” Boehm explained his choice of porcelain as the medium for his art as follows, ”Porcelain is a permanent creation. If properly processed and fired, its colors will never change; and it can be subjected to extreme temperatures without damage. It is a medium in which one can portray the everlasting beauty of form and color of wildlife and nature.” He gave his figures the vitality that all art must have.

Biography

Edward Marshall Boehm was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1913. His parents were separated before he was born. His mother, Elsie Boehm died when he was seven years old. (He was not to meet his father until he was in his twenties.) Friends enrolled him in an orphanage known as the McDonogh School. He left McDonogh at the age of sixteen.

He studied animal husbandry (farm management) at the University of Maryland. After the war he apprenticed for six months at the studio of the sculptor, Herbert Haseltine. He studied draftsmanship three times a week. He taught himself the ancient process of porcelain making.

From 1934-1942 he managed Longacres Farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, specializing in Guernsey. During World War II Boehm was in charge of a rehabilitation program for the Air Force at Pawling, New York. In 1944 he married Helen Franzolin. In 1945 they settled in Great Neck, Long Island.

Edward Marshall Boehm died from a heart attack on January 29, 1969.

Boehm was accorded its highest honor in 1992 when a wing of the Vatican Museum in Rome was named in memory of Edward Marshall Boehm. This was the first time in its 500-year history that one of the thirteen museums in the Vatican was named for an American, as the twelve other museums are named for Popes and royal families.

Selected Collections

Today Boehm porcelain is in the permanent collections of one hundred thirty-four institutions globally including:

• White House, Washington, D.C.
• Buckingham Palace, London, England
• Elysѐe Palace, Paris, France
• The Vatican Museum, Vatican, Rome, Italy
• Hermitage, Moscow, Russia
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
• The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
• John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.
• The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ
• Los Angeles County Museum, CA
• The Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN
• The Louisiana State Museum
• The Smithsonian Institution
• Bellingrath Gardens, Mobile, AL

Bibliography

• Frank J. Cosentino, Boehm's birds; The Porcelain Art of Edward Marshall Boehm (New York, F. Fell, 1960.)OCLC: 1356021
• Frank J. Cosentino, Edward Marshall Boehm—First Retrospective Exhibition, United States, Atlantic City, NJ
• Reese Palley, The Porcelain Art of Edward Marshall Boehm, (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1976.) ISBN 0810907011

References

Links for image reproduction

• Edward Marshall Boehm, sculpture image from askart.com