Otto Natzler

American/Austrian
(1908–2007)

Gertrud Natzler

Austrian/American
(1908–1971)

Bowl
circa 1960

3.25 x 10.75 x 10.75 in.

Gertrud Natzler’s Bowl exhibits the elegant thin-walled forms that have been the envy of many potters. Natzler worked in collaboration with her husband Otto, an engineer with a chemistry background, whom she met in Vienna, Austria. The rise of fascism in 1930s Europe led to the couple emigrating to Los Angeles in 1938. The ability of Gertrud’s throwing style to create the delicate walls seen in Bowl were a radical intervention to the landscape of Southern California ceramics. Gertrud was trained on the potter’s wheel, a rare skill in the American West in the 1930s. Her proficiency with the wheel garnered the interest of prominent California potters, who learned their technique from Natzler. As a result, Gertrud’s throwing technique was widely disseminated through California’s academic ceramic programs.

The Natzlers produced some of the finest examples of California studio ceramics. In their collaboration, Gertrud threw the ceramic forms and Otto’s background in chemistry proved invaluable for the research and development of glazes. They were central figures in elevating modernist ceramics to fine art. Their collaboration lasted three decades until Gertrud’s untimely death in 1971. Due to his grief, Otto was unable to finish the pots Gertrud left behind for many years. In the decades following Gertud’s death, Otto began a career as a modernist sculptor, working well into his 90s.

Matthew Limb

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This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• Ceramic Case 7: Southern California Connections , 8/17/2012 - 11/4/2013
• ARTH 4790 & 6790: History of American Studio Craft (Ceramics) , 2/6/2015 - 10/9/2015
• Lighting the Fire: Ceramics Education in the American West , 8/16/2016 - 12/10/2016
• Ceramic Niches - Bowls Fall 2018 , 9/15/2018 - 12/15/2018
• Better Days 2020: Year of the Woman Ceramics , 9/24/2019 - 12/3/2021
• Women, Surrealism, and Abstraction , 8/25/2020 - 7/9/2022
• Unearthed , 8/23/2022 - 5/14/2023

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