Marguerite Wildenhain
Encyclopedia
Marguerite Wildenhain born Marguerite Friedlaender, was a French-born American ceramic artist, educator and author. In the second half of her life, having emigrated to the U.S. in 1940, she conducted summer workshops at Pond Farm
, her remote mountain-top home and studio near Guerneville, California (in the Russian River area), and wrote three influential books, Pottery: Form and Expression (1959), The Invisible Core: A Potter's Life and Thoughts (1973), and …that We Look and See: An Admirer Looks at the Indians (1979). Artist Robert Arneson
described her as "the grande dame of potters,".
about the founding of the Bauhaus
school in 1919. Then and there, as she recalled in her autobiography, she decided that she would enroll.
(her Formmeister or Form Master) and potter Max Krehan
(her Lehrmeister or Crafts Master). In 1926, she left the school with the designation of Master Potter, and moved to Halle, where she was appointed head of the ceramics workshop at the Burg Giebichenstein. While there, she also became associated with Konigliche Porzellan-Manufaktur (or KPM), now Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur, for which she designed the prototypes for elegant, mass-produced dinnerware, most notably the Halle tea set and the Burg-Giebichenstein dinner service (both in 1930). At about the same time, she married a younger ceramic artist named Frans Wildenhain
(1905-80), who had earlier been her classmate at the Weimar Bauhaus.
When the National Socialists
came to power in 1933, Wildenhain was forced to leave her teaching post because of her Jewish ancestry. With her husband (a non-Jewish German citizen), she moved to Putte, Holland, where the couple established a pottery shop called Het Kruikje (Little Jug), and where, until 1940, they lived by making pottery. In advance of the Nazi invasion, Wildenhain was able to leave Holland in 1940 and to emigrate to the U.S., but her husband's concurrent request was denied.
. In the early 1940s, she settled permanently at Pond Farm
, an artists' colony founded by architect Gordon Herr and his wife Jane Herr, about seventy-five miles north of San Francisco. After gaining U.S. citizenship in 1945, Wildenhain was able to fund and to sponsor the emigration of her husband (who, in the years of their separation, had been drafted into the German army).
Marguerite and Franz Wildenhain, and two other artist colleagues, textile artist Trude Guermonprez (born Jalowetz) and metals artist Victor Ries became the faculty at the first summer school at Pond Farm, circa the late 1940s. It soon became evident, however, that the four artists were incompatible, and that the Wildenhains' marriage was falling apart. For these and other reasons, the artists' colony abruptly ended. Soon after, in 1950, Franz Wildenhain joined the faculty at the Rochester Institute of Technology
in New York, while Marguerite continued to live at Pond Farm.
Pond Farm
Pond Farm was an American artists’ colony that began in the 1940s and, in one form or another, continued until 1985. It was located near the Russian River resort town of Guerneville, California, about north of San Francisco...
, her remote mountain-top home and studio near Guerneville, California (in the Russian River area), and wrote three influential books, Pottery: Form and Expression (1959), The Invisible Core: A Potter's Life and Thoughts (1973), and …that We Look and See: An Admirer Looks at the Indians (1979). Artist Robert Arneson
Robert Arneson
Robert Carston Arneson was an American sculptor and professor of ceramics in the Art department at UC Davis for four decades.- Career :...
described her as "the grande dame of potters,".
Early life
Wildenhain was born in Lyon, France, to upper middle class parents (a German father and an English mother) who were silk merchants. When still in her teens, her family moved to Germany, where she completed secondary school. Beginning in 1914, she studied sculpture at the Hochschule fur Angewandte Kunst in Berlin, then worked as a decorator of porcelain ware at a factory in Rudolfstadt. Shortly after World War I, while in Weimar for a weekend, she saw unexpectedly the posted proclamation by architect Walter GropiusWalter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....
about the founding of the Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
school in 1919. Then and there, as she recalled in her autobiography, she decided that she would enroll.
Bauhaus and After
Wildenhain studied at the Weimar Bauhaus for about five years, in the process of which she worked closely with sculptor Gerhard MarcksGerhard Marcks
Gerhard Marcks was a German sculptor, who is also well-known for his drawings, woodcuts, lithographs and ceramics.-Background:...
(her Formmeister or Form Master) and potter Max Krehan
Max Krehan
Max Krehan was a German Master Potter in Dornburg, Germany, who, in 1920, was appointed the Lehrmeister for the pottery workshop at the Bauhaus school in Weimar.-Background:...
(her Lehrmeister or Crafts Master). In 1926, she left the school with the designation of Master Potter, and moved to Halle, where she was appointed head of the ceramics workshop at the Burg Giebichenstein. While there, she also became associated with Konigliche Porzellan-Manufaktur (or KPM), now Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur, for which she designed the prototypes for elegant, mass-produced dinnerware, most notably the Halle tea set and the Burg-Giebichenstein dinner service (both in 1930). At about the same time, she married a younger ceramic artist named Frans Wildenhain
Frans Wildenhain
Frans Wildenhain was a Bauhaus-trained German potter and sculptor, who taught for many years at the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.-Bauhaus and after:Born in Leipzig, Germany, Wildenhain’s early artistic training was in drawing, design...
(1905-80), who had earlier been her classmate at the Weimar Bauhaus.
When the National Socialists
National Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...
came to power in 1933, Wildenhain was forced to leave her teaching post because of her Jewish ancestry. With her husband (a non-Jewish German citizen), she moved to Putte, Holland, where the couple established a pottery shop called Het Kruikje (Little Jug), and where, until 1940, they lived by making pottery. In advance of the Nazi invasion, Wildenhain was able to leave Holland in 1940 and to emigrate to the U.S., but her husband's concurrent request was denied.
Pond Farm
Arriving in New York, Wildenhain traveled slowly east to west across the U.S., seeking opportunities. Soon after her arrival, she held brief positions at the Oakland School of Arts and Crafts, the Appalachian Institute of Arts and Crafts, and Black Mountain CollegeBlack Mountain College
Black Mountain College, a school founded in 1933 in Black Mountain, North Carolina, was a new kind of college in the United States in which the study of art was seen to be central to a liberal arts education, and in which John Dewey's principles of education played a major role...
. In the early 1940s, she settled permanently at Pond Farm
Pond Farm
Pond Farm was an American artists’ colony that began in the 1940s and, in one form or another, continued until 1985. It was located near the Russian River resort town of Guerneville, California, about north of San Francisco...
, an artists' colony founded by architect Gordon Herr and his wife Jane Herr, about seventy-five miles north of San Francisco. After gaining U.S. citizenship in 1945, Wildenhain was able to fund and to sponsor the emigration of her husband (who, in the years of their separation, had been drafted into the German army).
Marguerite and Franz Wildenhain, and two other artist colleagues, textile artist Trude Guermonprez (born Jalowetz) and metals artist Victor Ries became the faculty at the first summer school at Pond Farm, circa the late 1940s. It soon became evident, however, that the four artists were incompatible, and that the Wildenhains' marriage was falling apart. For these and other reasons, the artists' colony abruptly ended. Soon after, in 1950, Franz Wildenhain joined the faculty at the Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
in New York, while Marguerite continued to live at Pond Farm.
Later years
In the years that followed, as Marguerite Wildenhain's artistic stature grew, she continued to operate her own summer school, accepting twenty or more students each year. She also published three books (Pottery: Form and Expression; The Invisible Core: A Potter's Life and Thoughts; and That We Look and See: An Admirer Looks at the Indians), lectured at schools throughout the U.S., and took solo expeditions to South and Central America, Europe, and the Middle East. Since her death at age 88, the grounds and buildings at Pond Farm have been preserved, and are now officially a part of the California State Parks system.Iconography
- Charles Crodel: Die Töpferin Marguerite Friedlaender, Berliner Sezession, 64. Ausstellung: Künstler unter sich. Malerei. Plastik. April / März 1931, Nr. 9 (Veröffentlichungen des Kunstdienstes Nr. 57)
Writings
- Pottery, Form and Expression (New York, 1962)
- The Invisible Core: A Potter's Life and Thoughts (New York, 1973)
- …that We Look and See: An Admirer Looks at the Indians (Decorah, IA, 1979)
- R. Kath, ed.: The Letters of Gerhard Marcks and Marguerite Wildenhain, 1970-1981: A Mingling of Souls. (Ames, IA, 1991).
- D.L. Schwarz, ed.: Marguerite Letters to Franz Wildenhain (Decorah, IA, 2005).
See also
- BauhausBauhaus', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
- Frans WildenhainFrans WildenhainFrans Wildenhain was a Bauhaus-trained German potter and sculptor, who taught for many years at the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.-Bauhaus and after:Born in Leipzig, Germany, Wildenhain’s early artistic training was in drawing, design...
- Pond FarmPond FarmPond Farm was an American artists’ colony that began in the 1940s and, in one form or another, continued until 1985. It was located near the Russian River resort town of Guerneville, California, about north of San Francisco...
- Charles Crodel
- Max KrehanMax KrehanMax Krehan was a German Master Potter in Dornburg, Germany, who, in 1920, was appointed the Lehrmeister for the pottery workshop at the Bauhaus school in Weimar.-Background:...
- Gerhard MarcksGerhard MarcksGerhard Marcks was a German sculptor, who is also well-known for his drawings, woodcuts, lithographs and ceramics.-Background:...
- Dean SchwarzDean SchwarzDean Schwarz is an American ceramic artist, painter, writer and teacher. He was also the co-founder and proprietor of South Bear School by which he imparted to students a tradition of functional studio pottery that originated as early as the Middle Ages, and of which an impassioned revival...