Susan Stuart Goodrich Frackelton (1848–1932) was an American painter, specializing in painting

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

s. She was a leader in the

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

in the United States and author of ''Tried by Fire'',Susan S. Frackelton
''Tried By Fire - A Work on China-Painting''.
New York: D. Appleton, 1886. the "most popular handbook for decorators of chinaware", having reached a national audience.

Personal life

Susan Stuart Goodrich was born on June 5, 1848, in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

to her parents of New England birth, Edwin H. Goodrich and Mary S. Robinson Goodrich. She attended private schools in Milwaukee and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

.
Men and Women of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries
'. New York City: L.R. Hamersly; 1910. p. 651. She married Richard Frackelton on July 19, 1869. He was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and immigrated to the United States about 1857. They lived in Milwaukee, where they raised a daughter and three sons. Her husband ran an import business that failed. The success of Susan Frackelton's businesses, though, helped secure the financial future of their family.''Susan Frackelton: Punch Bowl''.
Milwaukee County Historical Society. Retrieved May 6, 2014. Frackelton sued for divorce from her husband due to his inability to support the family and cruel and inhuman treatment, including engaging in "one series of cursing and swearing at the

new woman The New Woman was a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 19th century and had a profound influence well into the 20th century. In 1894, writer Sarah Grand (1854–1943) used the term "new woman" in an influential article to refer to indepe ...

." By 1899 there were two adult sons, one had died by then, and an eleven-year-old daughter. Richard Frackelton died in 1907. In 1920 Frackelton lived in Chicago, Illinois and went to Haiti for a three-month holiday.Susan Stuart Frackelton. Passport issued December 26, 1919. Passport Applications, January 2, 1906–March 31, 1925. NARA Microfilm Publication M1490, 2740 rolls. General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59. National Archives, Washington, D.C. She was a member of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

and the Chicago Woman's Club. She died on April 14, 1932, at her home in

Kenilworth, Illinois Kenilworth is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, north of downtown Chicago. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census it had a population of 2,514. It is the newest of the nine suburban North Shore (Chicago), North Shore c ...

, and was buried two days later in the

Forest Home Cemetery Forest Home Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery and arboretum located in the Lincoln Village, City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Lincoln Village neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is the final resting place of many of the city's famed bee ...

in Milwaukee.''Susan Stuart Frackelton, 1848 to 1932''
Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Retrieved May 6, 2015.

Career

Frackelton studied landscape painting in Milwaukee under Henry Vianden. She made baskets, lace, and jewelry. She worked with leather, carved wood, wove and painted cloth and worked with metal before focusing on ceramics in 1876. She also lectured to a wide range of audiences. In 1883 she founded the Frackelton China and Decorating Works, where she successfully ran a

china painting China painting, or porcelain painting, is the decoration of glazed porcelain objects, such as plates, bowls, vases or statues. The body of the object may be hard-paste porcelain, developed in China in the 7th or 8th century, or soft-paste porce ...

enterprise and provided painting instruction in downtown Milwaukee. She patented Frackelton's Dry Colors in 1894.Jules Heller; Nancy G. Heller.
North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary
'. Routledge; 19 December 2013. . pp. 191–192.''Susan Frackelton Collection.''
Milwaukee County Historical Society. Retrieved May 6, 2014. Frackelton designed and patented a home kiln machine. She created a particular style of

art pottery Art pottery is a term for pottery with artistic aspirations, made in relatively small quantities, mostly between about 1870 and 1930. Typically, sets of the usual tableware items are excluded from the term; instead the objects produced are mostly ...

called the Frackelton "Blue and Grey" which is blue painted ware with a grey glaze. Her "Makers Mark" was a "SF" painted on the underside of each produced item. File:Susan Stuart Frackelton, pitcher, 1901.jpg, Susan Stuart Frackelton, pitcher, 1901,

Milwaukee County Historical Society The Milwaukee County Historical Society, also known as MCHS, is a local historical society in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Founded in 1935, the organization was formed to preserve, collect, recognize, and make available materials related to Milwauk ...

File:Susan Stuart Frackelton, loving cup, 1894-1906.jpg, Susan Stuart Frackelton, loving cup, 1894–1906,

File:Susan Stuart Frackelton, stein, 1894-1906.jpg, Susan Stuart Frackelton, stein, 1894–1906,

Frackelton was successful as a 19th-century woman artist, including having been the creator of the Blue and Grey pottery, painter of china and maker of book illuminations: In 1892 she founded the National League of Mineral Painters, which included members Adelaïde Alsop Robineau and Mary Chase Perry. Frackelton was president of a local association of professional artists, that merged into the ''Milwaukee Art Institute'', and at last into the

Milwaukee Art Museum The Milwaukee Art Museum (also referred to as MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection of over 34,000 works of art and gallery spaces totaling 150,000 sq. ft. (13,900 m²) make it the largest art museum in the state of Wis ...

. She was also president of the ''Wisconsin School of Design''.''2005 Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Awards : Susan Frackelton''
Wisconsin Visual Arts. Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors Inc. Retrieved May 6, 2014. At the

1893 World's Fair The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ce ...

she exhibited her salt-glazed ware and won nine awards for sets of her works. She won other medals at exhibitions in Europe and the United States in the 1880s and 1890s.

Margherita of Savoy Margherita of Savoy (''Margherita Maria Teresa Giovanna''; 20 November 1851 – 4 January 1926) was List of Italian royal consorts, Queen of Italy by marriage to her first cousin King Umberto I of Italy. She was the daughter of Prince Ferdinand ...

, the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

congratulated her via letter to her good works and arranged for Frackelton to present her works to the court.Frances Elizabeth Willard; Mary Ashton Rice Livermore.
A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life
'. Moulton; 1893. p. 298. In 1899 she jointly made pottery with ceramic artist George E. Ohr.Richard D. Mohr.
Pottery, Politics, Art: George Ohr and the Brothers Kirkpatrick
'. University of Illinois Press; 2003. . p. 145. At the

1900 Paris Exposition Universelle The Exposition Universelle of 1900 (), better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate develop ...

she exhibited her

delftware Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue () or as delf, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery, and the city of Delft in the Netherlands was the major cen ...

s. Her works are among the

Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of ...

Milwaukee Public Museum The Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin (formerly known as Milwaukee Public Museum) is a natural and human history museum in the Westown neighborhood of Downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The museum was chartered in 1882 and opened to the public ...

and Sinsinawa Mound. In 2005 she posthumously was awarded the Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award "due to her ground-breaking work with ceramics, china painting and the art pottery movement of the late 19th century."

References

External links

Susan S. Frackelton (1848-1932)
Pottery of Frackelton
Susan S.Frackleton Collection at the MCHS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frackelton, Susan Stuart Porcelain painters Artists from Milwaukee 1848 births 1932 deaths Painters from Wisconsin 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters 19th-century American women painters People from Kenilworth, Illinois Burials at Forest Home Cemetery

Personal life

Career

References

Further reading

External links