A potter and painter, Albert Green earned an international reputation for his ceramics, stoneware and canvases.
Born into a working class family in 1914, he entered the University of Pennsylvania at age 16 on a full scholarship as a scholar and athlete. He was a champion middle distance runner throughout college.
He studied painting at the Art Students League in New York City. But in 1946 a chance encounter with a display of contemporary Japanese pottery by Shoji Hamada inspired him on the spot to switch from painting to pottery. Green learned pottery techniques through engineering manuals and applied his knowledge of college chemistry to teach himself glazing.
He took his painting skills and applied them to his clay works, creating pieces that critics praised for their painterly qualities and subtle sense of color. He worked from his home studio until his death in 1994 at age 79.
(Adapted from the Luce Artist Biography of Albert Green, The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery)
Born into a working class family in 1914, he entered the University of Pennsylvania at age 16 on a full scholarship as a scholar and athlete. He was a champion middle distance runner throughout college.
He studied painting at the Art Students League in New York City. But in 1946 a chance encounter with a display of contemporary Japanese pottery by Shoji Hamada inspired him on the spot to switch from painting to pottery. Green learned pottery techniques through engineering manuals and applied his knowledge of college chemistry to teach himself glazing.
He took his painting skills and applied them to his clay works, creating pieces that critics praised for their painterly qualities and subtle sense of color. He worked from his home studio until his death in 1994 at age 79.
(Adapted from the Luce Artist Biography of Albert Green, The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery)