Vally Wieselthier im Contempora Studio, New York City

Valerie "Vally" Wieselthier (May 25, 1895 – September 1, 1945) was an Austrian-American ceramic artist.

Biography

Valerie Wieselthier was born to a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria. Her father, Wilhelm Wieselthier, was a lawyer. She attended the Wiener Frauenakademie in Vienna from 1912 to 1914 and studied at the Vienna School of Applied Arts with Rosalinda Rothhansl, Kolo Moser,

Josef Hoffmann Josef Hoffmann (15 December 1870 – 7 May 1956) was an Austrian- Moravian architect and designer. He was among the founders of Vienna Secession and co-establisher of the Wiener Werkstätte. His most famous architectural work is the Stoclet P ...

, and

Michael Powolny Michael Powolny (18 September 1871 – 4 January 1954) was an Austrian sculptor, medallist, ceramist, designer, and teacher. Powolny was born in Judenburg. He was trained at Tonindustrie in Znaim, and from 1894 to 1901 in the Wiener Kunstgewer ...

from 1914 to 1920. In addition, she worked as an auxiliary nurse during the First World War. From 1917 to 1922, she worked for the

Wiener Werkstätte The Wiener Werkstätte (engl.: ''Vienna Workshop''), established in 1903 by the graphic designer and painter Koloman Moser, the architect Josef Hoffmann and the patron Fritz Waerndorfer, was a productive association in Vienna, Austria that bro ...

. From 1922 to 1927, she ran her own ceramic workshop in cooperation with the Augarten porcelain factory, which was newly founded in 1923, but also with other companies such as

Friedrich Goldscheider Goldscheider Porcelain Manufactory and Majolica Factory (german: Goldscheider'sche Porzellan-Manufactur und Majolica-Fabrik; later: ''Goldscheider Keramik'') was an Austrian ceramic manufactory. History In 1885, Friedrich Goldscheider came from ...

, Gmundner Keramik and Lobmeyr. Her expressive and humorous porcelain figures attracted attention at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et industriels modern in Paris in 1925 and are considered typical examples of the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style. From 1928, the artist increasingly moved her center of life to the United States. She went to the International Exhibition of Ceramic Art in New York City in October 1928. In 1933, she moved to Chicago with Paul Lester Wiener and worked as a designer for the Contempora Group and the Sebring Pottery Company. Her use of lead glazes and the potential effect of

lead poisoning Lead poisoning, also known as plumbism and saturnism, is a type of metal poisoning caused by lead in the body. The brain is the most sensitive. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, inferti ...

on her mental and physical health have not been evaluated. She died on September 1, 1945 of stomach cancer in a New York hospital. Her work is held by many museums, including the

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

and

Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna The MAK – Museum of Applied Arts (German language, German: ''Museum für angewandte Kunst'') is an arts and crafts museum located at Stubenring 5 in Vienna's 1st district Innere Stadt. Besides its traditional orientation towards arts and crafts a ...

Literature

* Marianne Hörmann: ''Vally Wieselthier. 1895–1945. Wien – Paris – New York. Keramik – Skulptur – Design der zwanziger und dreißiger Jahre.'' Böhlau, Wien 1999 (Zugleich:

Universität Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

, Dissertation, 1999) * Hertha Kratzer: ''Die großen Österreicherinnen. 90 außergewöhnliche Frauen im Porträt.'' Ueberreuter, Wien 2001 * Robert E. Dechant, Filipp Goldscheider: ''Goldscheider. Firmengeschichte und Werkverzeichnis. Historismus, Jugendstil, Art Déco, 1950er Jahre-'' Arnold, Stuttgart 2007, . * Alastair Duncan: ''Encyclopedia of Art Deco.'' William Collins, Sydney 1988, , S. 183.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wieselthier, Vally Austrian ceramists Wiener Werkstätte 1895 births 1945 deaths 20th-century Austrian women artists World War I nurses Deaths from stomach cancer Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Jewish artists Jewish women artists Austrian emigrants to the United States