BRIEF HISTORY:
Osborne Theomun Olsen was born in Chicago, Illinois on June 9, 1883, born of parents who had emigrated from Norway. Osborne and his siblings survived a fairly traumatic childhood in which their father and their mother died within an 11-day period of unrelated causes; two months later, the paternal uncle who took them in was hit by a train. Finally, a maternal aunt took Osborne and his siblings in and successfully raised them to adulthood. Osborne was a talented artist from a very early age; he opened his Art Studio in 1910, and became a member of the Chicago Art Institute in 1911, at the age of 28. Osborne’s mainstay work was china and porcelain decorating, but he never limited his business name or his description of himself to the ceramic arts. Instead, he always referred to his business as an "art studio" and to himself as an "artist." Even though his studio was quite small compared to the contemporary studios of Pickard, Stouffer or Donath, Osborne turned out beautiful, high quality ceramic art pieces.