Otto Natzler

Partners and creative collaborators Gertrud (b. Amon) and Otto Natzler were among the most important ceramists of the twentieth century. The two Viennese-born artists met in 1933. After taking a ceramics class with Franz Iskara, they went on to set up their own clay studio. Eventually they gained recognition in Europe. The couple fled Austria in 1938, resettling in Los Angeles, California, where they established a studio with Gertrud’s kick wheel and a small kiln they had brought from Vienna. Working synergistically, Gertrud created wheel-thrown bowl and bottle forms while Otto fired and glazed each work. Over the course of their long career, Gertrud produced 25,000 pots and Otto developed 2,500 glazes. The Museum of Modern Art in New York purchased several of the couple’s works in 1945, and Natzler ceramics are in the permanent collections of dozens of museums around the world.