THE BAUHAUS

Carter

28 February 1894 in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) 4

November 1965 in Stevenage/Hertfordshire

NAUM SLUTZKY

Metalworker born into a family of goldsmiths. Studied in Vienna

and worked in the Wiener Werksttte before entering the Bauhaus
Metal Workshop in Weimar in 1919, until 1923. There Slutzky took
over a workshop for precious metals as his own private space.
Became a freelance industrial designer in Hamburg from 192733.

He taught at Dartington Hall, Devon, (1933-1939); the Central

School of Art (1946-50); and the Royal College of Art (1950-57),
where he established the Product and Design Research studios.
Head of Industrial Design at Birmingham College of Arts and
Crafts (1957-64) and Ravensbourne College of Art, Bromley
(1965).

EDUCATION AND BACKGROUND

STEEL COFFEE POT

Naum Slutzky

AN IMPORTANT AND EXTREMELY RARE

TEAPOT

engraved M and impressed with the

designer's cipher

silver-plated metal, rosewood and ebony

6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm) high

circa 1928

Produced by the Bauhaus Metal Workshop

in 1930

Naum Slutzky's design of 1928 is one of the most iconic German

teapots of the period. After working as a master goldsmith in the
Weimar Bauhaus he established himself independently in
Hamburg in 1927. Fritz Schleiffer was a former student of Slutzky's
at the Bauhaus Metal workshops, and it was through their
friendship that he came to acquire this teapot.

NOTE OF THE TEAPOT

NECKLACE

Place of origin:

Hamburg, Germany (made)

Date:

1930 (made)

Artist/Maker:

Slutzky, Naum, born 1898 - died 1965 (designer and maker)

Materials and Techniques:

Chromium plated brass

Museum number:

CIRC.1234-1967

Gallery location:

Jewellery, room 91, case 32, shelf B, box 3

RING

Place of origin:

England, Great Britain (possibly, made)

Date:

1965 (made)

Artist/Maker:

Slutzky, Naum, born 1898 - died 1965 (designed and made)

Materials and Techniques:

Cast silver

Museum number:

CIRC.412-1966

Gallery location:

Jewellery, room 91, case 43, shelf B, box 10

DRAWINGS (OF JEWELLERY) IN 1960S

Naum Slutzky can be regarded as a link between the eclecticism

of 19th century design and the modernist design currents of the
20th century. As a trained goldsmith and the son of one of
Fabergs colleagues Slutzky had acquired a traditional feeling
for materials and quality. But his innovative designs mirror a
central development in modern design history in which the
Bauhaus and other reform movements sought to give expression
to a radical break with aesthetic norms, material values and
manufacturing processes. The objects that left Slutzkys workshop
were exquisite and exclusive.

MORE ABOUR SLUTZKY

February 18, 1889 November 13, 1981

Marcks was born in Berlin, where, at age 18, he worked
as an apprentice to German sculptor Richard Scheibe.
In 1914, he married Maria Schmidtlein, with whom he
would raise six children. During World War I, he served in
the German army, which resulted in long term health
problems.
With architect Walter Gropius (who would later be the
founder of the Bauhaus school in Weimar), Lyonel
Feininger, Scheibe and others, Marcks was a member of
two art-related political groups,
the Novembergruppe (November Group) and
the Arbeitsrat fr Kunst (Workers Council for Art). He was
also affiliated with theDeutscher Werkbund, of which
Gropius was a founding member.

GERHARD MARCKS

In 1919, when Gropius founded the Bauhaus, Marcks was one of the first three
faculty members to be hired, along with Feininger and Johannes Itten.
Specifically, Marcks was appointed the Formmeister (Form Master) of the
schools Pottery Workshop, which was located not in Weimar but in an annex
to the school in nearby Dornburg. The other teacher in that workshop, its
Lehrmeister (Crafts Master) was Master Potter Max Krehan, the last of a long
line of potters, whose workshop was in Dornburg. Krehan taught the students
to throw pots on the wheel, to trim and glaze them, and to fire the kiln.
Marcks, in addition to duties in Weimar, taught the history of the practice,
encouraged experimentation, and sometimes decorated pots.

Earlier, Marcks had made the models for a series of animal sculptures, which
were reproduced in China by a porcelain factory. His interest in animal forms
is reflected in the work he made for his first Bauhaus portfolio (Neue
Europaeische Graphik I), such as Die Katzen ("The Cats") and Die Eule ("The
Owl"), both woodcuts. In time, his focus shifted to the human figure, and it
was this subject that continued to hold his attention for the rest of his life.

WITH BAUHAUS

Marcks, primarily recognized as a sculptor, was also a talented

ceramicist and designer. His work was banned by the Nazis
during World War II. The many pieces he had stored in his studio
were destroyed in bombing raids and those he had secretly
hidden were plundered and ruined. After the war, he was
commissioned to create numerous memorials and public
monuments across Germany. In his ceramics and woodcuts, his
sculptural techniques are recognizable in the classic figures and
crisp lines.

ABOUT MARCKS WORKS

GIRL WITH BRAIDS

1950

Bronze

Girl With Braids,

exemplifies Marcks'
ability to create a
clean modern look in
the face and form, yet
convey a complex
emotional statement.

BIRD HOUSE

1921
Woodcut on ivory
wove paper

HEAD OF A WOMAN

1935

Woodcut on cream wove

paper

1919

The relief "Frau mit Sugling" (Woman

with Infant) is one of the few remaining
examples of the works made from
wood by Marcks during his time at the
Bauhaus. It is a variation of the
iconographic "Thringer Mutter"
(Thuringian mother), a popular motif of
the day. The piece is contextualised by
Marckss confrontation with his personal
experience of the horrors of WW I and
also thematises the births of Marckss
children.

WOMAN WITH INFANT