Vase

Otto Natzler|Gertrud Natzler

1956 · Earthenware · The American Wing

Gertrud and Otto Natzler made their mark with unusual glazes over simple, beautifully potted forms. Viennese born, they worked as a team even before they married, and were awarded a bronze medal at the 1937 Paris Exposition International des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. The Nazi threat, however, forced them to leave their country in 1938, and they found refuge with family members in Los Angeles, where they set up a small pottery. Each spouse had a designated role: Gertrud was the potter, throwing exceedingly fine, thin-walled vessels, while Otto was responsible for the glazes. Rejecting the decorated surfaces popular with the Wiener Werkstätte, they sought a purity of form enriched only by unusual colors and surface textures. This is exemplified by this attenuated, tapered, bottle-shaped vessel, with a mesmerizing midnight blue crystalline glaze.

Artist

Otto Natzler|Gertrud Natzler

Date

1956

Medium

Earthenware

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Robert A. Ellison Jr., 2017