Large bottle (no. K884)

Viennese couple Gertrud and Otto Natzler fled their Nazi-occupied homeland in 1938, arriving in Los Angeles with a potter’s wheel and kiln in tow. The magisterial work that they produced together, Gertrude throwing delicate forms and Otto experimenting with glazes, has had long-lasting influence on  American ceramic practice. Otto’s volcanic glazes, seen on this pock-marked piece, caused a sensation when first exhibited in Los Angeles. “What a fire does really is more or less up to nature and to God, and all you can do is pray that you get some of the things you intend to get,” Otto Natzler said of the unpredictable nature of ceramic art. “Sometimes you get even surprises that surpass your expectations.”