In 1940, Charles Murphy was hired as design director. He first focused on new hand-painted dinnerware designs.
He held night classes to find the best artists to hire for painting his designs on dinnerware. He next saw an opportunity for more art pottery sales with an expensive line for jewelry stores and exclusive retailers. With this market in mind, he introduced gray and tan engobe pieces with glossy turquoise embellishments.
In 1942, the Red Wing Potteries catalog included a high-relief vase series with an Art Deco figures. Shape #1148 was noted as a light earthenware body, cylindrical form, molded and an excellent example of the high quality design and fine glazes that were being produced by Red Wing.
Under Murphy’s guidance, the Red Wing Potteries also created other vases, figurines, planters, bowls, candlesticks, and more updated designs . The U.S. participation in World War II slowed art pottery production because some of the metal ores used to make glazes were rationed and had shipping restrictions.
In 1947 Red Wing Potteries featured new Murphy designs in their catalog with the a crackled glaze on new modernist shapes. The pieces used glazes that separated during firing; then pieces were wiped with India ink to give the crackled appearance. They were available in Crackled White, Crackled Turquoise, or Crackled Chartreuse glazes. Charles Murphy left Red Wing Potteries in 1949 for better pay during a four-year stint as designer at Stetson Pottery in Lincoln, Illinois, but returned in 1953 when the Red Wing Potteries were under new leadership.
