The Leo Baeck Institute presents:
Goldscheider Ceramics
A World Brand from Vienna:
Commerce and Art in an Age of Transformation
JANUARY 29, 2009
5:00 – 6:30 PM | Opening reception
Opening remarks by Peter Goldscheider
7:00 PM | Lecture by Filipp Goldscheider:
“Art Deco Masterpieces by Walter and Marcel Goldscheider”
From its founding in Vienna in 1885 until 1938, the Goldscheider Manufactory was the leading international ceramics producer in Europe with subsidiaries in Paris, Leipzig, and Florence. Its high quality decorative objects were sought by collectors around the world. The pieces encompassed a large variety of styles; more than 10,000 models were in production by the time the company was forcibly Aryanized by the Nazis.
The exhibit at Leo Baeck Institute will feature Goldscheider pieces from the private collection of Kathryn Hausman, president of the Art Deco Society, New York. Her collection focuses on the beauty of the 1920’s Art Deco Woman. The objects will be presented within the post-1848 historical context of Vienna , a time marked by the decline of the Habsburg monarchy and profound innovations in the arts, the sciences, industry and commerce. It was a time of new opportunities, especially for Jews, which led to increasing resentment among the petty bourgeoisie, eventually becoming the breeding ground for right-wing radicalism and anti-Semitism.
The Goldscheider ceramics will be displayed along with documents, artwork, photos, and books from the LBI collections, items that will illuminate the political and social transformations taking place throughout Central Europe. Many of these developments enabled Jewish business owners like the Goldscheiders to thrive, before being reviled by the Nazis. The saga of the Goldscheider Manufactory reflects the history of an age.
Photos: Charles Kaufman
The LBI thanks Peter Goldscheider, Vienna; and Kathryn Hausman, President, Art Deco Society, New York, and Facilitator of the International Coalition of Art Deco Societies, for their support of this exhibit.
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