Eva Zeisel (1906 – ) was born Eva Amalia Stricker was born in Budapest, Hungary. Always interested in the arts, she entered the Budapest Royal Academy of Fine Arts at age seventeen. Originally, she hoped to become a painter but eventually decided to pursue a more practical profession and apprenticed herself to the guild of potters. She left the academy in 1925 to work with a potter in Budapest learning to design and make ceramic objects. She was the first woman to learn the craft and, after mastering the basics of ceramic manufacture, applied for work with German ceramic manufacturers. In 1928, Zeisel became the designer for the Schramberger Majolikafabrik company in Germany. Her designs at Schramberg were largely based on geometric forms and influenced by the Bauhaus design school.

In 1932, Zeisel decided to join her brother, Michael, a patent attorney, who was working in the Soviet Union as a foreign expert at the invitation of Joseph Stalin. In 1935, at the age of 29, after working at several jobs in the ceramic industry — inspecting factories in the Ukraine as well as designing for the Lomonosov factory — Zeisel was named the artistic director of the Soviet ceramics industry. One year later, in 1936, while living in Moscow Zeisel was accused of participating in an assassination plot against Stalin. She was arrested and held in prison for 16 months, 12 of which were spent in solitary confinement. Zeisel was released and deported to Vienna, Austria.

Her experiences in the Soviet prison form the basis for Darkness at Noon, the well known anti-Stalinist novel written by her childhood sweetheart, Arthur Koestler. It was while in Vienna that Zeisel met her future husband Hans Zeisel. In 1938, shortly after the Zeisels were married, the Nazis invaded Vienna and the couple decided to move to New York with only $64.00 to their name.

Zeisel’s career in design continued to develop in the United States. In addition to designing for companies such as General Mills, Rosenthal China and Castleton China, she taught one of the first courses in industrial design at the Pratt Institute in New York. Zeisel had the first one-woman show at the Museum of Modern Art in 1946.

Zeisel stopped designing for industry during the 1960s and 1970s before returning to design work in the 1980s. Many of her later designs have attained the same level success as her earlier designs. Zeisel’s recent designs have included a teakettle for Chantal, glasses for Nambé, a sink and bathtub for Signature, ceramics for KleinReid, a coffee table for Eva Zeisel Originals as well as of one of Crate and Barrel’s best-selling dinner services.

Zeisel’s designs are made for use. The inspiration for her sensuous forms often comes from the natural organic curves of the body, taking advantage of the softness of clay. Zeisel’s more organic approach to modernism most likely comes as a reaction to the Bauhaus aesthetics that were popular at the time of her early training. Her sense of form and color show influence from the Hungarian folk arts she grew up seeing. Zeisel’s designs — furniture, metal, glass or ceramic — are often made in sets or in relationship to other objects. Many of Zeisel’s designs nest together creating modular designs that also function to save space.

Zeisel describes her designs in a New York Sun article: “I don’t create angular things. I’m a more circular person — it’s more my character….even the air between my hands is round.”

Her best known work includes the eccentric, biomorphic “Town and Country” line of dishes, produced by Red Wing Pottery, The “Tomorrow’s Classic” and “Century” lines for Hallcraft, the “Museum” line from Castleton, which was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, and the “Tri-Tone” line by Hall. A limited run of reproduction Town and Country pieces was reissued in 1998.

Zeisel’s works are in the permanent collections of Brohan Museum, Germany; the British Museum; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Musée des Arts Decoratifs de Montreal; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Brooklyn, Metropolitan, Dallas, Knoxville, Milwaukee. In 2005, Zeisel was awarded the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement.

This exhibition was organized by the Erie Art Museum.

Image Credit:

Eva Zeisel, Town and Country Salt and Pepper Shakers for Red Wing Pottery, in production 1947-1956, tall 4.5 x 2.75 inches/ short 3 x 2 inches, glazed earthenware. Asheville Art Museum Collection. 

Related Programs: 

Opening Reception with Gallery Tours
Sunday, February 8, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
with Mapping the Mountains: The Photographs of George Masa

Art Break: Eva Zeisel: The Shape of Life Docent-Led Tour
Friday, February 6, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Art Break: Eva Zeisel: The Shape of Life with Curatorial Staff
Friday, April 3, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Film Screening: Throwing Curves ~ Eva Zeisel
Saturday + Sunday, April 25 + 26, 2:00 p.m.