Rudolf Staffel
Rudolf Harry Staffel | |
---|---|
Born | 1911 San Antonio, Texas, U.S. |
Died | 2002 Alfred, New York, U.S. |
Other names | Rudi Staffel |
Education | School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
Employer | Tyler School of Art |
Known for | ceramic artist, educator |
Website | www |
Rudolf Harry "Rudi" Staffel (1911 – 2002) was an American ceramic artist and educator.
Biography
Rudolf Staffel was born in 1911 in San Antonio, Texas. Staffel attended Brackenridge High School.[1] Staffel initially wanted to be a painter, and early on attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.[1] While there, an exhibition of Wiener Werkstätte at the Field Museum of History, captivated him with its glass art.
Staffel briefly moved to Mexico to study glass blowing, and while there he fell in love with ceramics at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. His early ceramics were in a mid-century studio style, with traditional forms and glazes, although sometimes with social commentary and often with references to Native American, Asian and Scandinavian ceramic traditions. In the 1940s, he studied with Hans Hofmann in New York, who instilled in him a strong sense of "push/pull" pictorial content that would later come to maturity in his Light Gatherers. Circa 1954-1955, Staffel turned from stoneware to porcelain as the result of a dinnerware commission he was given.
By the late 1950s, Staffel worked exclusively in porcelain. His Light Gatherers, as they would become known, would occupy Staffel for the rest of his career. The ability of a work to hold and transmit light was the most important quality for him. "Even when I was a painter, I was always interest in light," he said. "Something about light coming through glass, wax, or snow. I wanted to achieve a passage of light."[2]
Staffel made his own porcelain compositions in an effort to achieve the maximum translucency, the same as with glass or paint. He also manipulated the material via piercing, stretching, folding and even engraving. His works are almost exclusively white, are rarely glazed, and when he occasionally adds color it is limited to blue, green or, rarely, red tones that come from metal oxides.[3]
Staffel taught at the Tyler School of Art in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania from 1940, until his retirement in 1978. While there, he mentored artists including Paula Winokur, and John E. Dowell Jr.[4]
Staffel died in 2002 in Alfred, New York.[5] His daughter is writer Megan Staffel.
Exhibitions
Staffel has his first one-person museum exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts (now the Museum of Art and Design) in New York, in 1967. From 1976 he showed regularly in one-person and group exhibitions at Helen Drutt Gallery in Philadelphia. He was the subject of the retrospectives Rudolf Staffel: Selected Works, 1935-1989 at Temple University, Philadelphia in 1989; Transparency in Clay: The Work of Rudolf Staffel at Museum voor Het Kruithuis, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands in 1990; and Rudolf Staffel: Searching for Light; A Retrospective View, 1936-1996 at the Museum of Applied Arts, Helsinki, in 1996 and which travelled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1997.[6]
Prominent group shows in which he's recently been included are Clay Into Art: Selections from the Collection of Contemporary Ceramics at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1998; Crafting A Legacy: Contemporary American Crafts in the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2003; Dirt on Delight: Impulses That Form Clay at the ICA, Philadelphia and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis in 2009-2010 and White Magic: Robert Ryman and Rudolf Staffel at David Nolan Gallery, New York in 2014.
Collections
Staffel is represented widely in important museum collections across the United States and internationally, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York;[7] the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.;[8] the Houston Museum of Fine Arts; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Woodmere Art Museum;[9] and the Museum of Art and Design, Helsinki.
Recognition and reception
As a result of his innovations, technical prowess and vision, Staffel is widely considered to be one of the most significant American ceramic artists working in the latter half of the 20th century. Noted historian Garth Clark called Staffel "one of the most original vessel makers in American ceramics."[10] Comparisons have also been made to the work of George Ohr, although Staffel was not directly aware of the earlier ceramicist's work.[11] "While Ohr revealed his virtuosity in paper-thin ceramics, Staffel took this a step further. His porcelain vases show a mastery of the material which is virtually breath-taking in its fragility and transparency."[12] Marianne Aav called him "one of the most daring innovators and renewers of ceramic thinking during the late twentieth century" [13] and noted that "Especially among the pieces from the 1970s onward, there are examples that show risk-taking, daring and freedom from all conventional forms that is seldom, if ever, seen in ceramics … We can say that Staffel is an expressionist, a very sophisticated one, whose work is based on incredible skill and thorough observation."[14]
Awards
- 1977 National Endowment for the Arts[15]
- 1978 American Craft Council, Fellows Award[16]
- 1982 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Hazlett Memorial Award for Excellence in the Arts[17]
- 1990 National Endowment for the Arts[18]
- 1995 American Craft Council, College of Fellows, Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement[19][20]
- 1996 Pew Fellowships in the Arts[21]
Sources
- Jeffri, Joan (ed.), The Craftsperson Speaks, Artists in Varied Media Discuss Their Crafts, New York, Greenwood Press, 1992.
- "Oral history interview with Rudolf Staffel, 1987 July 17-Aug. 6", Smithsonian Archives of American Art
- "E. Sozanski, "A Master Of Light Ceramic Artist Rudolf Staffel Has Made A Career In Translucency-- Light Gathering, He Calls It. At 84, He's Reaping Wide Notice, Including A Retrospective Of His Life's Work That Opens Next Month In Helsinki.", Philadelphia Inquirer, May 21, 1996.
References
- ^ a b A Marmac Guide to San Antonio. Pelican Publishing. p. 240. ISBN 978-1-4556-0854-6.
- ^ Paul and Robert Winokur, "The Light of Rudolf Staffel," Craft Horizons 37, no. 2 (April 1977, p. 25).
- ^ S. Ramljak, Crafting A Legacy: Contemporary American Crafts in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 2003, p. 58
- ^ Thomas Riggs, ed. (1997). St. James Guide to Black Artists. St. James Press. ISBN 9781558622203.
- ^ "Rudolf Staffel". The Marks Project. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
- ^ Art, Philadelphia Museum of. "Philadelphia Museum of Art - Exhibitions - Rudolf Staffel: Searching for Light; Ceramics, 1936-1996". www.philamuseum.org. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
- ^ "Light Gatherer, ca. 1970". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
- ^ "Rudolf Staffel". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
- ^ "Staffel, Rudolf". woodmereartmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
- ^ G. Clark, American Ceramics: 1876 to the Present, New York, 1987, p. 300.
- ^ J. Perreault, "The Reappraisal", Village Voice, 1985, reprinted in The Mad Potter of Biloxi: The Art & Life of George E. Ohr, New York, 1989, p. 143.
- ^ Yvonne G.J. M. Joris, Rudolf Staffel: Transparency in Clay, 's-Hertogenbosch, 1990, p. 9.
- ^ Rudolf Staffel: Searching for Light, Helsinki, 1997, p. 13.
- ^ Rudolf Staffel: Searching for Light, Helsinki, 1997, p. 14.
- ^ "Annual Report" (PDF). National Endowment for the Arts and National Council on the Arts. 1977.
- ^ "ACC College of Fellows - American Craft Council".
- ^ http://www.arts.pa.gov/WHAT%20WE%20DO/Governor's%20Awards/Pages/default.aspx [dead link]
- ^ "Annual Report" (PDF). National Endowment for the Arts. 1990.
- ^ "Rudolf Staffel - American Craft Council".
- ^ Art, Philadelphia Museum of. "Rudolf Staffel Discusses Ceramics at Philadelphia Art Museum".
- ^ "The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage". 28 January 2017. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
External links
- Rudolf Staffel website
- Rudolf Staffel in the Philadelphia Museum of Art
- v
- t
- e
- Adda Husted Andersen
- Dorothy Meredith
- Ed Rossbach
- Frans Wildenhain
- Harvey Littleton
- Lenore Tawney
- Lili Blumenau
- Peter Voulkos
- Sam Maloof
- Toshiko Takaezu
- Trude Guermonprez
- Florence Eastmead
- Francis Sumner Merritt
- Margaret Patch
- Mary Lyon
- Maurine Roberts
- Rudolph Schaeffer
- Alma Eikerman
- Bob Stocksdale
- Dominick Labino
- Frederick Miller
- Jack Lenor Larsen
- L. Brent Kington
- Mary Walker Phillips
- Rudolf Staffel
- Rudy Autio
- Eugenia Campbell Nowlin
- Arline Fisch
- George Nakashima
- Gerry Williams
- Hans Christensen
- Katherine Westphal
- Joan Mondale
- Margery Anneberg
- Rose Slivka
- William Brown
- Bernard Kester
- Joel Myers
- Margret Craver
- Mary Nyburg
- Tage Frid
- Warren MacKenzie
- Eudorah Moore
- Robert W. Gray
- John Mason
- Kay Sekimachi
- Marianne Strengell
- Maurice Heaton
- Richard Thomas
- Ted Randall
- Harold Brennan
- Sydney Butchkes
- Dale Chihuly
- Kenneth Ferguson
- Wendell Castle
- Beatrice Wood
- Claire Zeisler
- Dominic Di Mare
- Edward Moulthrop
- Heikki Seppä
- June Schwarcz
- Richard DeVore
- Robert Sperry
- Val Cushing
- Carlyle Smith
- James Wallace
- Jonathan Fairbanks
- LaMar Harrington
- Albert Green
- Arthur Carpenter
- C. Carl Jennings
- Frances Senska
- Fritz Dreisbach
- Glen Kaufman
- Harrison McIntosh
- Mark Peiser
- Mary Scheier
- James McKinnell
- Nan Bangs McKinnell
- Paul Soldner
- Phillip Fike
- Polly Lada-Mocarski
- Ted Hallman
- Walter G. Nottingham
- William Daley
- C. Malcolm Watkins
- James Melchert
- Lloyd Herman
- Marion Stroud Swingle
- Paul J. Smith
- Rudy Turk
- Edris Eckhardt
- Frances Higgins
- Francis Whitaker
- Gertrud Natzler
- Lillian Elliott
- Margaret Tafoya
- Michael Higgins
- Otto Heino
- Otto Natzler
- Viktor Schreckengost
- Vivika Heino
- Blanche Reeves
- R. Leigh Glover
- Cynthia Schira
- David Shaner
- Edgar Anderson
- Joyce Anderson
- James 'Mel' Someroski
- Karl Martz
- Kurt Matzdorf
- Marvin Lipofsky
- Robert Arneson
- Stanley Lechtzin
- Walker Weed
- Helen Drutt English
- Mildred Constantine
- Ruth DeYoung Kohler
- Betty Woodman
- Gerhardt Knodel
- Jere Osgood
- John Marshall
- Kenneth Price
- Margarete Seeler
- Oppi Untracht
- Robert G. Hart
- Albert Paley
- Henry Halem
- John McQueen
- Merry Renk
- Patti Warashina
- Robert Ebendorf
- Rude Osolnik
- Stephen De Staebler
- Viola Frey
- Lee Nordness
- Betty Cooke
- Claude Horan
- Garry Knox Bennett
- Helena Hernmarck
- Jun Kaneko
- Kenneth Bates
- Mark Levine
- Mary Lee Hu
- Jean Griffith
- Virginia Harvey
- Chunghi Choo
- Jack Earl
- Ka Kwong Hui
- Lia Cook
- Bob Winston
- Ron Nagle
- Tommy Simpson
- William Keyser
- Sandra Blain
- Dan Dailey
- Edwin Scheier
- Eleanor Moty
- James Bassler
- Judy McKie
- Richard Mawdsley
- Richard Shaw
- William Harper
- Paulus Berensohn
- Dorothy Barnes
- Helen Shirk
- Irena Brynner
- Nancy Crow
- Paul Marioni
- Ralph Baccera
- Therman Statom
- Fred Marer
- Adrian Saxe
- Anne Wilson
- Cynthia Bringle
- Eugene Pijanowski
- Hiroko Sato-Pijanowski
- James Krenov
- Joyce Scott
- Marjorie Schick
- Paul Stankard
- Christa C. Mayer Thurman
- Theodore Cohen
- David Ellsworth
- Gary Noffke
- Joan Livingstone
- John Glick
- Michael James
- Norman Schulman
- Thomas Patti
- Warren Seelig
- Alice Rooney
- Harlan Butt
- Jane Sauer
- John Cederquist
- Paula Winokur
- Robert Winokur
- Garth Clark
- Ana Lisa Hedstrom
- James Tanner
- Kurt Weiser
- Norma Minkowitz
- Tom Joyce
- Albert LeCoff
- Akio Takamori
- Howard Ben Tré
- Jason Pollen
- Kiff Slemmons
- Walter Hamady
- Stuart Kestenbaum
- Arturo Sandoval
- Marilyn da Silva
- Mark Lindquist
- Richard Notkin
- Robert Brady
- William Morris
- Nanette Laitman
- Adela Akers
- Glenda Arentzen
- Gyöngy Laky
- John Horn
- Robyn Horn
- Tony Hepburn
- Toots Zynsky
- Wendy Maruyama
- Lois Moran
- Benjamin Moore
- Bernard Bernstein
- Carol Shaw-Sutton
- Jamie Bennett
- Louis Marak
- Rosanne Somerson
- Robert Pfannebecker
- Ginny Ruffner
- John Garrett
- John Stephenson
- Rebecca Medel
- Ron Ho
- Susanne Stephenson
- William Hunter
- Janet Koplos
- Andrea Gill
- Anne Currier
- Dante Marioni
- Lewis Knauss
- Sharon Church
- Sherri Smith
- Thomas Loeser
- Bruce Pepich
- John Gill
- Jane Lackey
- Michael Hurwitz
- Judith Schaechter
- Bruce Metcalf
- William Carlson
- Tina Oldknow
- Nick Cave
- Michael Cooper
- Françoise Grossen
- Chris Gustin
- Myra Mimlitsch-Gray
- Hank Murta Adams
- Edward S. Cooke Jr.
- Mark Burns
- Thomas Gentille
- Thomas Hucker
- Mary Jackson
- Beth Lipman
- Consuelo Jimenez Underwood
- Susan Cummins
- Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada
- Sonya Clark
- Lisa Gralnick
- Katherine Gray
- Annabeth Rosen
- Bob Trotman
- Patricia Malarcher
- Teri Greeves
- Karen Hampton
- Nancy Koenigsberg
- Keith Lewis
- Kristina Madsen
- Mark Pharis
- Preston Singletary
- Tip Toland
- Carolyn Mazloomi
- Howard Risatti
- Lowery Stokes Sims
- Syd Carpenter
- Michael A. Cummings
- Einar and Jamex de la Torre
- Yuri Kobayashi
- Mark Newport
- Michael Puryear
- Diego Romero
- Lynda Watson
- Diana Baird N'Diaye
- Cindi Strauss
- Recipients of the Gold Medal for Consummate Craftsmanship
- Dorothy Liebes (1970)
- Anni Albers (1981)
- Harvey Littleton (1983)
- Lucy M. Lewis (1985)
- Margret Craver (1986)
- Peter Voulkos (1986)
- Gerry Williams (1986)
- Lenore Tawney (1987)
- Sam Maloof (1988)
- Ed Rossbach (1990)
- John Prip (1992)
- Beatrice Wood (1992)
- Alma Eikerman (1993)
- Douglass Morse Howell (1993)
- Marianne Strengell (1993)
- Robert C. Turner (1993)
- John Paul Miller (1994)
- Toshiko Takaezu (1994)
- Rudolf Staffel (1995)
- Bob Stocksdale (1995)
- Jack Lenor Larsen (1996)
- Ronald Hayes Pearson (1996)
- June Schwarcz (1996)
- Wendell Castle (1997)
- Ruth Duckworth (1997)
- Sheila Hicks (1997)
- Kenneth Ferguson (1998)
- Karen Karnes (1998)
- Warren MacKenzie (1998)
- Rudy Autio (1999)
- Dominic Di Mare (1999)
- L. Brent Kington (2000)
- Cynthia Schira (2000)
- Arline Fisch (2001)
- Gertrud Natzler (2001)
- Otto Natzler (2001)
- Don Reitz (2002)
- Kay Sekimachi (2002)
- William Daley (2003)
- Fred Fenster (2005)
- Dale Chihuly (2006)
- Paul Soldner (2008)
- Katherine Westphal (2009)
- Albert Paley (2010)
- Stephen De Staebler (2012)
- Betty Woodman (2014)
- Gerhardt Knodel (2016)
- Jun Kaneko (2018)
- Joyce J. Scott (2020)
- Jim Bassler (2022)
- Lia Cook (2022)
- Richard Marquis (2022)
- Judy Kensley McKie (2022)
- John McQueen (2022)
- Patti Warashina (2022)
- Nick Cave (2024)
- Wendy Maruyama (2024)
- Anne Wilson (2024)