Esoteric Survey

  The Private Collection of Gertrud & Otto Natzler at Rago and LAMA  This auction has some insane pots. It looks like the Natzlers were holding back some of the best examples.  Orange-red crater glaze I'm not usually a fan of these crystal formation glazes. They are a little flashy for me. However, paired with this dark blue, it works. Otto was was such a glaze master.  The house and studio where Gertud and Otto made all the pots is also for sale.   Gertrud died in 1971.  Otto later married photographer Gail Reynolds. Otto died in 2007 and Gail passed last year.  All contemporary real estate photos: Cameron Carothers This what the house looked like early on. After Gertrud passed, Otto and Gail expanded the house and gave it that Austrian chalet look. There were thousands of pieces of ceramics in the house. The real estate listing says "... it has been taken out by an art dealer, and they are now in storage." However, there are some Natzlers st...

  Last week I visited the California Design auction preview at Los Angeles Modern's new space in Hollywood.  Sam Maloof is a staple and so is Stan Bitters, but who is that on the left? Yes, that is indeed a Lawrence Hunter clock. THE clock from California Design 76! Michael Cooper's Soapbox Derby Car , which is seen on the opposing page of California Design 76, is also in the sale. In 1975, the San Francisco Museum of Art held a fundraiser where they invited artists to build soapbox derby racing cars and trophies. This downhill racer was his entry.  It was later shown at the Pasadena Museum of Art's California Design 76, which was held at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles.  Here is a small portion of the other artists who participated in the derby. I wonder what the Ruth Asawa piece looked like?  The  LAMA essay  includes a must watch video on the derby.  In October of the same year, Cooper had an exhibition of 14 works, mostly with wheel...

Lot 107 Kay Whitcomb, Enamel Sculpture San Diego Enamel Scene by Dave Hampton During the mid to late 1950s, the Art Center in La Jolla was becoming an important hub for area artists and designer-craftsmen, including those working with enamels. When Ellamarie and Jackson Woolley began to focus on the medium in 1948-49 they lived in a unit at Rudolf Schindler's El Pueblo Ribera (above), (along with other Allied Craftsmen group member Harry Bertoia) and their important groundwork helped inspire a whole community of San Diego artists, including Barney Reid, Phyllis Wallen, Joann Tanzer, James Parker, Margaret Price and even the young sculptor Jack Boyd , all of whom eventually did significant work with enamel on copper.  Jackson and  Ellamarie  Woolley Certainly, the Woolleys defined and propelled this wave of enameling by San Diego artists, however, within just a couple of years of each other (1955 and 1957 respectively), Kay Whitcomb and June Schwarcz arrived in La Jolla t...