American Art Bowl Made in Los Angeles, California, United States, North and Central America1946 Gertrud Natzler, American (born Austria), 1908 - 1971, and Otto Natzler, American (born Austria), 1908 - 2007. Glazed earthenware (green Pompeian lava glaze) Currently not on view 1963-181-190 The Louis E. Stern Collection, 1963 |
LabelThe lifelong collaboration of Gertrud and Otto Natzler began in their native Vienna and flourished in Los Angeles, where they settled in 1938 to escape Nazi persecution. The tension between this bowl's precise form and richly textured, irregular surface resulted from the Natzlers' collaborative process. Gertrud threw vessels and plates on the wheel, refining these basic forms into abstract statements of modernist purity. Otto continually experimented with glazes and firing, producing such innovations as the green Pompeian lava glaze on this piece. Commingling control and accident, their works demonstrate the endless potential inherent in ceramic vessels. |
