Artist Birthday: Gertrud Nätzler (1908-1971, US born Austria)

After the Arts and Crafts movement of the mid- to late-1800s, several art forms emerged with the status of fine art, because the Arts and Crafts movements stressed the artist’s touch during a period when increased industrialization in the West invaded the realms of furniture design, ceramics, and metalwork. A leading artist couple who pioneered glazing and form were Gertrud and Otto Nätzler.

Artist Birthday for 7 July: Gertrud Nätzler (1908-1971, US born Austria)

Gertrud Nätzler, Bowl, 1961, glazed earthenware, 10 x 18 cm    The Museum of Modern Art, New York, © 2026 Artists or Estates of Artists (MOMA-D0117)

The Nätzlers refined their forms and glazes over three decades. Gertrud was the master ceramic artist, Otto was the master chemist of the glazes and in charge of the kiln. Gertrud's elegant forms reflect the influence of Art Nouveau style of the Vienna Secession movement. Otto perfected over two thousand glazes. His most unique glazes are iridescent, luminous, brilliant colors that bubble up from a darker colored glaze. The deep blue interior and exterior of this vessel emerge from a black glaze.

Background

Until the 1800s, ceramic artists were considered artisans, or "craftspeople" in the Western world. The large porcelain factories that sprang up in Europe during the 1700s produced high quality, elegant wares, but very little is recorded about most of the artists who created them. This attitude changed in the second half of the 1800s with the emergence of the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain, the Art Nouveau and Secession movements on the Continent. 

These movements stressed the superiority of handcrafting in the decorative arts -- ceramics, furniture, glass, textiles and jewelry -- and elevated these art forms to the status of "fine art", a term previously reserved for painting and sculpture. The elevation of ceramics to a fine art status continued through the 1900s, when the art form became a major medium for sculpture.

Gertrud and Otto Nätzler were one of the leading couples of the modern ceramic movement. Modern ceramic artists experiment not only with form, but especially with glazing technique. Otto, trained as a textile artist, met Gertrud in 1933, and she introduced him to clay. In 1938, after the Nazis annexed Austria, they moved to the US with nothing but a single potter's wheel and a small kiln, and they taught ceramics.

Correlation to Davis program: Davis Collections -- Jewish Artists