Naum Slutzky - Design and Design Art New York Thursday, May 24, 2007 | Phillips

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  • Literature

    Klaus Weber, Die Metallwerstatt Am Bauhaus, exh. cat., Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin, 1992, illustrated p. 268; Rüdiger Joppien, Ein Bauhauskünstler in Hamburg-Naum Slutzky, exh. cat., Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, 1995, p. 38 a-b; Christopher Wilk, ed., Modernism Designing a New World, exh. cat., London, 2006, pp. 220-221 for an example in another metal finish

  • Catalogue Essay

    Naum Slutzky’s teapot of 1928, one of his most famous, is also revered as one of the most important designs in metalwork of the 20th century. It is a physical manifestation of his approach to design, as well as a testament to his education and artistic surroundings. Slutzky trained in Vienna with the Wiener Werkstätte in the mid-1910s and then became an assistant master for goldsmithing at the Bauhaus in 1921. At the Bauhaus he worked with Johannes Itten, Marianne Brandt, Christian Dell and Laszlo Maholy-Nagy while clearly managing to develop his own esthetic. Although highly geometrical, Slutzky’s designs sought to show the hand of the maker, in accordance with the teachings of Johannes Itten and the first phase of the Bauhaus.

    This important teapot was produced after Slutzky left the Bauhaus, at a time when he was working as a lighting and interior architect in Hamburg. He was, however, clearly associated with colleagues from the Bauhaus, as this teapot bears the stamp of Fritz Schleifer who studied with him while he was at the Bauhaus and further whose stamp Slutzky designed, at the time of the manufacture of this teapot.

    Strictly geometric in form, this teapot reflects Slutzky’s time at the Bauhaus and as a Modernist in general. There are two known examples of the teapot, the present example and one in the permanent collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

24

Rare and important teapot

1928
New silver, ebony. Impressed with Fritz Schleifer’s cipher.
7 in. (17.8 cm) high, 9 1/8 in. (24 cm) diameter

Estimate
$120,000 - 160,000 

Design and Design Art

24 May 2007
2pm New York