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Decorative bowl, (untitled), 1949
Gertrud NatzlerOtto Natzler
Decorative bowl, (untitled),
Gertrud Natzler, Otto Natzler,
*1067

Decorative bowl, (untitled),
1949

Gertrud NatzlerOtto Natzler
*1067
g1T1
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Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Ausstellungsstrasse 60
8031 Zurich
Museum map
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 94
8031 Zurich
Pavillon Le Corbusier
Höschgasse 8
8008 Zürich
Museum map
  • (untitled) Gertrud Natzler Otto Natzler Decorative bowl
  • (untitled) Gertrud Natzler Otto Natzler Decorative bowl
  • (untitled) Gertrud Natzler Otto Natzler Decorative bowl
  • (untitled) Gertrud Natzler Otto Natzler Decorative bowl
  • (untitled) Gertrud Natzler Otto Natzler Decorative bowl
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Listen to the text
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Over many years of intensive collaborative work, the couple Gertrud Natzler (1908–1971) and Otto Natzler (1908–2007) returned pottery to its roots with vessels that eschewed all superficial ornament.

Otto Natzler referred to his wife’s bowl with its graceful, floating look as Gertrude’s “most perfect form.” He furnished it with a surface of craters and shadows recalling a lunar landscape. After a chance encounter spurred an enduring fascination with the material of clay, the Vienna-born couple plunged into several years of experimental self-study, teaching themselves the skills necessary to produce exceptional pottery. “This period was painful, because the wonderful material proved extremely unruly and we only succeeded very slowly in mastering it,” Otto once said. Gertrud Natzler crafted the vessels without tools such as casting or pressing molds, using only her hands to give them their individual forms, while Otto Natzler demonstrated almost alchemical fervor as he became a master glazer capable of achieving the most delicate of effects. The decisive parameters were the precise control of firing temperatures, the speed at which they were reached, and the later cooling of the kiln. The couple already won a silver medal for their vessels at the 1937 International Exposition in Paris. With the annexation of Austria by Germany, however, in 1938 Gertrud and Otto Natzler were forced to leave their home. They emigrated to the United States and settled outside of Los Angeles. The Museum für Gestaltung Zürich purchased a group of seven vessels by them on the occasion of the 1959 exhibition Keramik von Gertrud und Otto Natzler. (Sabine Flaschberger)

Schale, 1949
Entwurf/Ausführung: Gertrud Natzler, Otto Natzler
Material/Technik: Steingut, Oxidationsbrand, Bleiglasur
6.3 × 13.1 cm
Eigentum: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK
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Literature

Keramik von Gertrud und Otto Natzler, Kunstgewerbemuseum Wegleitung 228, Zürich 1959.

Erika Billeter (Hg.), Kunstgewerbemuseum Zürich, Sammlungskatalog 3: Keramik, Zürich 1965.

Image credits

Schale, 1949, Entwurf/Ausführung: Gertrud Natzler, Otto Natzler
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Zierschale, 1956, Entwurf/Ausführung: Gertrud Natzler, Otto Natzler
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Zierschale, 1958, Entwurf/Ausführung: Gertrud Natzler, Otto Natzler
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Vase, 1957, Entwurf/Ausführung: Gertrud Natzler, Otto Natzler
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Bechervase, 1957, Entwurf/Ausführung: Gertrud Natzler, Otto Natzler
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Zierschale, 1954, Entwurf/Ausführung: Gertrud Natzler, Otto Natzler
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Exhibition text
Glazes

The group of small bowls unfolds the design spectrum of a whole generation of potters who devoted themselves to searching for the perfect form. A world opens up where we can survey various lines and proportions, ranging from the finest to the thickest of vessels. The glazes complement the masterful perfection with intensive color gradients. Marbled zones and fine craquelure stand side by side with rough cratered landscapes, rich hues next to delicately graduated tonality.