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Mary Alice Hadley, designer
American, 1911 – 1965
Hadley Pottery, maker
American, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky
Plate, designed 1952
Earthenware
1 x 11 in. (2.5 x 27.9 cm.)
Gift of George Hadley 1986.3.102
Mary Alice Hadley and Her Pottery
In 1939, Mary Alice Hadley produced her first pieces of pottery: plates decorated with nautical flags for use on the Ohio River houseboat where she and her husband, George, lived. Within a few years, the two had established a commercial pottery. Mary created a wide range of designs, often inspired by Louisville motifs, as with the iron gatepost sketched on one of the plates shown here. Hadley Pottery’s output soon received national attention. In 1952, Mary’s Brown Fleck pattern (a Brown Fleck plate is shown here) was chosen by New York’s Museum of Modern Art as an example of good “modern” design.
