Eva Zeisel (1906 – 2011) Hungarian designer and ceramicist

Advertisements
Eva Zeisel ceramic tea set
Eva Zeisel ceramic tea set

Eva Zeisel (1906 – 2011) was a Hungarian designer and ceramicist. She was born in Budapest. She was professionally active in Germany, Russia, Austria, and the USA. She settled in the United States in 1938.

She designed ceramics for many different clients and is best known for her dinnerware, including Stratoware, designed for Sears and Roebuck in 1942. She created the offbeat and humorous Town and Country Line for the Company Red Wing.

Over the course of her career,she designed over 100,000 objects.

Education

Between 1923-24, Zeisal studied painting at Képzömüvészeti Akadémia (Academy of Art), in Budapest, under Vasari. She subsequently apprenticed in pottery.

Advertisements

Biography

Between 1927-32, she worked first for the Kispest earthenware factory in Budapest, and various ceramics factories in Germany, including a ceramics designer at Schramberg Majolika Fabrik and the Carsten ceramics factory. She was familiar with Werkbund and Bauhaus forms. 

In 1932, she went to the Soviet Union, where she worked in various ceramics factories, including a sanitary ceramics plant and at the Lomonosov porcelain factory in St. Petersburg under Nikolai Suetin. Suetin applied motifs to some of her forms. 

From 1934, she worked for the Deulevo ceramics factory in Moscow. She became the artistic director Central Administration of the Glass and China Industry of the USSR, Moscow. During the Stalin Purges, she was imprisoned between 1936-37. She was released and deported via Vienna and Britain and settled in the USA.

Between 1939-53 she taught at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. Between 1959 and 1960, at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. During this time, she was also designing for clients.

Eva Zeisel - Cloverware Serving Set (c1947) MOMA
Eva Zeisel – Cloverware Serving Set (c1947) MOMA

Her ceramic designs of the 1940s reflected the organic furniture of the time. Her classic 1942-45 Museum White dinnerware, designed in collaboration with the New York Museum of Modern Art, was produced by Castleton China, New Castle, Pennsylvania. It emulated the Functionalist ceramics made by major factories in Europe, especially those in Arzberg and Berlin. 

Eva Zeisel Creamer c. 1946 MOMA
Eva Zeisel Creamer c. 1946 MOMA

She designed the 1950 knock-down chair with a zippered plastic cover for Richards-Morgenthau, wooden pieces for Salisbury Artisans from 1951 and 1952 dinnerware for Hall China. 

In 1996 and 1997, select pieces from Zeisel’s Town and Country Line were reissued with her permission by World of ceramics of Morganton, North Carolina. Another manufacturer reissued other Town and Country pieces for sale through the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Exhibitions

Museum White china subject of 1946 ‘Modern China by Eva Zeisel’ exhibition, New York Museum of Modern Art. Work included in the 1991 USA ‘Design 1935-1965: What Modern Was travelling exhibition. Work was the subject of the 1984 ‘Eva Zeisel: Designer for Industry’ travelling exhibition organized by Musee des Arts Decoratifs. Montreal. Received 1983 Senior Fellowship National Endowment for the Arts. 

Eva Zeisel ceramic teapots
Eva Zeisel ceramic teapots

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

Co. Staff, Martingale and, ed. 20th Century Dinnerware. Collector’s Compass Ser., 2001. https://doi.org/10.1604/9781564773777.

Kovel, R. M., & Kovel, T. H. (2007). Kovels’ American collectibles 1900-2000. Random House.

More Ceramics Shopping

You may also be interested in

More on Ceramics Design

  • Minton British Ceramics: A Journey from Stoke-on-Trent to Global Legacy

    Minton British Ceramics: A Journey from Stoke-on-Trent to Global Legacy

    Thomas Minton bought a pottery in Stoke-on-Trent in 1793 and, in 1796, began production of inexpensive blue transfer-printed earthenware. His son Herbert Minton became director in 1836, expanded the range of wares, and hired artists. Read More →

  • Chinese Ceramics: Highlights of the Sir Percival David Collection

    Chinese Ceramics: Highlights of the Sir Percival David Collection

    Outside of Asia, Sir Percival David amassed one of the best collections of Chinese ceramics. Many imperial-quality artifacts are included, including stunning specimens of highly rare Ru and guan ceramics, as well as the famed David vases. Read More →

  • Eureka Pottery – American Ceramics manufacturer

    Eureka Pottery – American Ceramics manufacturer

    The Eureka Pottery was the last commercial pottery constructed during the historic three decades during which potteries were established in Trenton. The company made the most beautiful majolica in Trenton. It was established in 1883 by Leon Weil, who Noah and Charles Boch succeeded. It was closed in 1887 due to fire, the constant enemy…

  • British Art Pottery Manufacturer – Moorcroft

    British Art Pottery Manufacturer – Moorcroft

    William Moorcroft started Moorcroft, a British art pottery manufacturer, in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, in 1913.Read More →

  • Wedgwood 16 Piece Nantucket Basket Set, White

    Wedgwood 16 Piece Nantucket Basket Set, White

    Elevate your dining experience with the Wedgwood Nantucket Basket 16-Piece Set. Made from fine bone china, this collection features an embossed basketweave pattern and includes dinner plates, salad plates, soup/cereal bowls, and mugs. Mix and match with other Wedgwood collections for a unique look. Dishwasher and microwave safe. Shop now and enjoy free shipping.Read More…

  • Grethe Meyer (1918 – 2008) Danish architect, & designer of furniture & glassware

    Grethe Meyer (1918 – 2008) Danish architect, & designer of furniture & glassware

    She worked on the editorial staff of The Building Manual from 1944 to 1955. She was a crucial figure in Borge Mogensen’s research on the standardisation of consumer product sizes, and she collaborated with him frequently. They created the Boligens Byggeskabe (BB) and resund cabinet-storage systems in 1957.Read More →

  • Shenango China Company: A Legacy of Pottery and Porcelain Manufacturing

    Shenango China Company: A Legacy of Pottery and Porcelain Manufacturing

    The Shenango China Company, active in New Castle, Pennsylvania, from 1901 to 1990, holds a significant place in American pottery and porcelain manufacturing. Specializing in tableware and furnishing articles for hotels and restaurants, the company gained recognition for its white or light green flower patterns inspired by céladon porcelain. Shenango China’s dedication to craftsmanship and…

  • Josiah Wedgwood British Ceramics Manufacturer

    Josiah Wedgwood British Ceramics Manufacturer

    He started by producing basic tableware, but by 1759, he had expanded to include beautiful items like classical vases and portrait busts. He was one of the first producers to hire artists to create product designs.Read More →

  • Plateelbakkerij Ram (1921 – 1969) Arnhem-based Dutch Ceramics

    Plateelbakkerij Ram (1921 – 1969) Arnhem-based Dutch Ceramics

    Plateelbakkerij Ram (1921 – 1969) was an Arnhem-based Dutch ceramics company. Ram was founded in 1921 to produce high-quality ceramic bodies. At Ram 1921—25, Thomas A.C. Colenbrander was the designer for whom the company was established at the age of 80. Ram wares were sold at exhibition auctions as art rather than craft.Read More →

  • Ernest Chaplet (1835 – 1909) French ceramicist and studio potter

    Ernest Chaplet (1835 – 1909) French ceramicist and studio potter

    Ernest Chaplet (1835 – 1909) was a French ceramicist, an early studio potter’ who mastered slip decoration, rediscovered stoneware, and conducted copper-red studies. From 1882 to 1885, he was the director of Charles Haviland’s workshop to study decorative processes, where he collaborated with artists such as Paul Gauguin. He eventually moved to Choisy-le-Roi, where he…

  • Stunning White Ceramic Vase Modern Home Decor

    Stunning White Ceramic Vase Modern Home Decor

    The White Ceramic Vase Set 2 features a unique donut shape, two large and small vases, and is made of high-quality ceramic material. Its sleek, modern look complements any home decor style, and is easy to clean and maintain.Read More →

  • The Workshop Guide to Ceramics – Book Shop

    The Workshop Guide to Ceramics – Book Shop

    The Workshop Guide to Ceramics By Duncan Hooson and Anthony QuinnRead More →

  • Discovering the Magic of Plateelbakkerij de Distel

    Discovering the Magic of Plateelbakkerij de Distel

    Plateelbakkerij de Distel was a Dutch ceramics firm founded in 1895 in Amsterdam. It employed artists for both designing and painting, and produced art pottery, utility ware, tiles, ceramics for special events, and small sculptures. Exhibitions were held before WWI, including the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition.Read More →

  • Fujina – Japanese Folk Pottery

    Fujina – Japanese Folk Pottery

    Fujina pottery is made at Matsue, Shimane. 19th-century products include bluish-green tea bowls and white, yellow, or bluish-green domestic pottery. Later urban work promotes folk art.Read More →

  • A Closer Look at Haviland, a French Porcelain Factory

    A Closer Look at Haviland, a French Porcelain Factory

    Haviland was a French porcelain factory founded by American David Haviland in 1843 and operated until 1914. The Haviland family were skilled entrepreneurs and dedicated to their employees’ welfare, with a special fund to aid soldiers and their families, a mutual support fund, an association, social housing, and a programme for kids’ vacations.Read More →

  • Kutani Porcelain Factory – Honshu, Japan

    Kutani Porcelain Factory – Honshu, Japan

    The Maeda family were hereditary feudal lords who founded and exclusively operated the Kutani Porcelain Factory, a privately owned Japanese factory in Kutani Mura, West Honshu, in the late cI7.Read More →

  • What is Nottingham Earthenware Pottery?

    What is Nottingham Earthenware Pottery?

    Nottingham earthenware is English pottery from the thirteenth to the late eighteenth centuries. (The last authenticated piece was created in 1799.) Usually brown, with a faint metallic lustre. Often decorated with lines incised around the piece. Read More →

  • Arzberg Porcelain – prestigious German design

    Arzberg Porcelain – prestigious German design

    Arzberg is regarded as one of the most prestigious porcelain design houses in the world. The definition of good design. Arzberg combines aesthetics, functionality, and durability.Read More →

  • Otto Lindig (1895 – 1966) German Ceramicist

    Otto Lindig (1895 – 1966) German Ceramicist

    He was an enthusiastic supporter of the pottery workshop at the Bauhaus, contending that it should be included in the school’s curriculum. When it was separated into design and production workshops, Lindig supervised the latter, combining hand work and mass production approaches.Read More →

  • Trude Petri-Raben (1906 – 1989) German Ceramicist

    Trude Petri-Raben (1906 – 1989) German Ceramicist

    From 1927 she studied porcelain at Verinigdten Staatsshulen für freie und angewandte Kunst (United State Schools for Free and Applied Arts), Berlin, and Staatliche Porzellan-Manufakture, Berlin (Royal Porcelain Factory, Berlin).Read More →

Anders B. Liljefors Swedish Ceramicist – Encyclopedia of Design

Anders Liljefors was a Swedish ceramicist. He initially concerned himself with household ware, discovered a new method of casting ceramics in a sand mould, and worked feverishly to extract new and unexpected effects from this material during the later years of his life. Between 1942 and 1943 he studied sculpture and painting, Grünewalds måiarskola, Stockholm.

1 Comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.