The Human Condition: The Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection Sept. 2014 | Page 163

Wyman, William
American; (b. 1922, Boston, MA; d. 1980, East Weymouth, MA)
1951 MA Columbia University, New York City, NY
1950 BS Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA

William Wyman was a potter who operated the Herring Run Pottery in East Weymouth,

SELECTED REFERENCES:

Massachusetts, from 1960 until his death in 1980. Wyman completed his MA at Columbia

Friedrich, Maria, and Daniel

University and became a professor of art at the Massachusetts College of Art and

Jacobs. A Passionate Vision:

Design in 1958. From the 1950s onward, Wyman produced a variety of functional and

Contemporary Ceramics from the

nonfunctional stoneware objects including his popular slab vessels commonly referred
to as temples. Wyman’s Temple series (1977–1979) was inspired by several monumental
architectural forms including the Chartres Cathedral and the ruins at Copán, the Mayan

Daniel Jacobs Collection. Lincoln:
DeCordova Museum, 1984.
Manhart, Marcia, and Tom
Manhart, eds. The Eloquent Object:

archaeological site in Honduras. The artist visited the site in 1965 after a three-month stay

The Evolution of American Art

working in the country as a consultant for the Agency for International Development.

in Craft Media Since 1945. Tulsa:

After his return to the U.S., Wyman began building the temple sculptures, which
ranged in height from two to thirty inches. Often marked with crayon or pastel, these
constructed shelters probed themes of spirituality and space. Rather than the structures
being inhabitable, the artist intended them to be viewed and experienced as something

The Philbrook Museum, 1987.
Montgomery, Susan. J.
“Witness the Spirit of William
Wyman.” American Ceramics 4,
no. 3 (1985): 30–35.

‘otherworldly.’ As Daniel Jacobs has noted, Wyman began making his temples while
unwittingly dying of cancer, making these structures more akin to mausoleums than
strictly mystical temples. To date, only twenty-six of Wyman’s temples still exist.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM WYMAN WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION

Temple no. 15
Friedrich, Maria, and Daniel
Jacobs. A Passionate Vision:
Contemporary Ceramics from the
Daniel Jacobs Collection. Lincoln:
DeCordova Museum, 1984.

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