Vase

Frederick Walrath was among the first students at the newly-established ceramics program at Alfred University, where he studied with Charles Ferguson Binns from 1901 to 1904. He taught for a couple of years at the University of Chicago’s School of Education, but he returned to his home in Rochester, New York, to look after his father, and soon set up his own pottery there. He also joined the faculty at the Mechanics Institute in Rochester (late the Rochester Institute of Technology), where he taught modeling and pottery. He developed some highly successful colored and textured matte glazes, and even experimented with crystalline glazes. This type of English-inspired design epitomizes Walrath’s mature style. The conscious verticality of the design accentuated by the plants’ double stems complements the tall form of the vessel. The design also recalls the design teachings of Arthur Wesley Dow in the stencil-like abstraction of the flowers and the delicately harmonized muted colors of the glazes. Walrath’s promising career, however, was cut short by an early death after operating his independent pottery for only about a decade and a half.