Goldscheider: History of the Company and Catalogue of Works - Hardcover

Filipp Goldscheider; Robert E. Dechant

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3897902168 ISBN 13: 9783897902169

Publisher: Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt, 2008

Synopsis

An extensive history of the Austrian ceramics firm with an exhaustive index of artists as well as a complete overview of marks.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Figurines made by the Viennese Manufactory Friedrich Goldscheider, which were ideally suited to the tastes of a broader public, were much sought-after worldwide in the 1920s. Bringing glamour and a touch of eroticism into homes, they came to epitomise lifestyle accessories that awakened longings. Today Goldscheider ceramics fetch high prices on a buoyant collectors' market. Goldscheider was one of the most successful businesses in the history of European ceramics. From the outset, the "Porcelain Manufactory and Majolica Factory" aimed at manufacturing top quality mass-produced wares designed by highly skilled and well trained young artists. A vast product range - figurines, busts, animal sculpture, masks, vessels, lamps, etc. - met the expectations of a diverse clientele. Over seventy years more than ten thousand models in faience and terracotta as well as bronze and alabaster were in production. Figurines and vessels of the highest aesthetic quality and consummate workmanship were made in the Historicizing, Jugendstil/Art Nouveau and Art Déco period styles. "Aryanised" in 1938, the Goldscheider company was managed during the war years by Josef Schuster, who ensured that the new models corresponded to the prevailing National Socialist aesthetic. The range was accordingly enlarged to include peasant figurines notable for coarseness of form. The nude figures of that era, characterised by chaste facial expressions and modest hairstyles, stayed in fashion on into the 1950s. The comprehensive history of the Goldscheider Factory just off the presses at ARNOLDSCHE is a knowledgeable and very readable account of the international development of the firm. The meticulously drawn up annotated catalogue of works represents the first description in print of over 4,000 models; it is supplemented by a comprehensive index of artists (504 names) and a table of marks (163 marks are reproduced) containing many items of information previously unknown to the public. More than 2,200 objects are reproduced from the collections of the Wien Museum, the Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst / Gegenwartskunst and important private collections worldwide. A real treasure trove for collectors and lovers of ceramics - and the standard work on the subject.

Review:

Friedrich Goldscheider's motto was "Standing still is the beginning of the end." It appears that the authors of this sumptuous work adopted the same motto for themselves: for the first time, the entire catalogue of the Viennese ceramics manufactory - over 4000 models - has been meticulously compiled. Added to this are a list of over 500 artists who worked for the company, often with brief biographies and reproductions of their signatures; a table of 163 marks used by the firm and its factories abroad; a short but very interesting section on pointers for collectors, and the added pleasure of an impeccable English translation. This beautifully printed and illustrated volume is a must for any collector or professional interested in 20th century ceramics. --International Auctioneers, Spring 2008

This scholarly book/catalogue, running to over 600 pages and seemingly thousands of images, is a fantastic reference that sheds light on one aspect of Viennese taste, which was both popular and, occasionally, entertaining. That such a book can be produced by a small but innovative publishing house reaffirms a belief in the value and importance of scholarship and its role in identifying part of our ceramic heritage. --Ceramic Review, September/October 2008

About this edition

• Publisher: Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 3897902168
• ISBN 13: 9783897902169
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 640