Talk:Osborne Theomun Olsen

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Osbourne Titaman Olsen became Osbourne Theomun Olsen upon the discovery of his draft registration in 2006. The name had not appeared in print and was passed down orally by his family until it had evolved into "Titaman" as a phonetic approximation. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 19:12, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Osborne Theomun Olsen (1883-1971)

He Anglicized his first name early in his career, and by age 18 [in 1902] he was already decorating china professionally. In 1905 he married a girl his own age and they had two children, a boy and a girl. During the first seven or eight years of his career, he probably worked for one or more of the decorator wholesalers such as Pitkin & Brooks. Several antique dealers have insisted that he received his early training at Pickard. While not discounting these claims, diligent searches at antique shows and auctions and among private collections have turned up no example. Certainly, he was not one of Pickard's top artists nor was he ever Pickard's art director as a few dealers have claimed. By the time of the 1910 Census [under the name 'Asbjorn T. Olsen'] he describes himself as "working on his own account", that is, he had his own china-decorating business in his home, and by 1914 he had opened a separate studio at 2520 North Milwaukee Avenue. Osborne did not use a backstamp on much of his product, being content to sign his name on the face of the piece, or in the case of all-over gold pieces, to scribe his signature on the bottom, In other cases, he used gummed foil labels that were easily removed after purchase. Therefore although he did employ other artists one cannot distinguish between unstamped pieces signed by an artist while working for Osborne and pieces which that artist may have made on a freelance basis. He does not seem to have encouraged - or perhaps even permitted - other artists to sign their work for him. An Osborne piece signed by anyone other than Osborne has yet to be found. Although he seems to have been devoted primarily to decorated china, he always characterized his studio as an 'art studio' and himself as simply an 'artist'. The studio was not a large one, and inasmuch as Osborne sold art supplies as well as decorated china from a store at the front of the building, he probably employed no more than six or eight china decorators at the studio's height. Nevertheless, he did employ some very good artists.

• Source: Alan B. Reed, Collector's Encyclopedia of Pickard China
• Note: Used with permission from Reed estate
• Note: Information sharing agreement in place with new publisher