Bowl

The Natzlers began their career together in 1933 in Vienna when Gertrud convinced Otto to join her in her studies with potter Franz Iskra. When the couple opened their own studio in 1935, Gertrud was already an accomplished potter, and began to further refine her pots, making them literally eggshell thin. Otto began developing vivid glazes that would be set off by Gertrud's pure forms, and so their famous division of labor was born. To escape Nazi persecution, the Natzlers immigrated to the United States in 1938, just after their works were awarded a silver medal at the Paris International Exposition of 1937. The Natzlers established a studio in Los Angeles. A year later, they won a first place award at the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts' Ceramic National, and subsequently became among the most highly publicized American ceramists. They collaborated until Gertrud's death in 1971. This bowl is an excellent example of the combination of Gertrud's classical forms and Otto's innovative glazes.