Gustav Spörri

Gustav Spörri (born July 20, 1902 in Zell am Harmersbach , † May 29, 1976 in Schaffhausen ) was a Swiss ceramic artist .

biography

Spörri's father was a potter who immigrated from Tösstal , Switzerland , and his mother was a local baker's daughter. The Spörri-Rauer couple had nine children, five of whom died during the First World War . After finishing school, Gustav Spörri began an apprenticeship as a ceramic painter with Georg Schmider in the United Ceramic Works in Zell am Harmersbach . After the apprenticeship, further training followed at the State Majolica Manufactory in Karlsruhe with Max Laeuger , at the Dresden School of Applied Arts and the Vienna Art Academy .

In May 1934 Gustav Spörri married Liselotte “Lilo” Zickner (1907–1980). From 1932 to 1945 he worked at Villeroy & Boch in Dresden, where he was promoted to artistic director.

In 1946 Spörri was taken prisoner in Dresden, which had been heavily bombed in February 1945 and occupied by the Red Army in May , and was sentenced to forced labor. Thanks to support from Bern, the Spörri couple and their eight-year-old adoptive daughter Elke managed to flee to Switzerland in 1948. The daughter Heide was born there in the same year. Gustav Spörri worked for a short time in a pottery near Thun . Then he moved to the ceramic art department of the Ziegler AG pottery factory in Schaffhausen , where he was artistic director from 1949 to 1964.

In 1951 the Spörri couple built the “Trubegüetli” residential and studio building in the Urwerf district in Neuhausen am Rheinfall . There Spörri began working independently as a ceramist and artist, parallel to his work at Ziegler AG, and after leaving Ziegler he worked exclusively in his own studio.

Spörri died of cancer.

plant

Gustav Spörri's extensive ceramic oeuvre has almost been forgotten. An illustrated book by Spörri collector Markus Strübin, published in 2013, counteracts this. Gustav Spörri's oeuvre includes not only ceramics, but also mosaics , oil paintings , watercolors , drawings and reverse glass paintings . Works by Gustav Spörri are traded internationally and can be found in many collections.

Exhibitions

• Tabouret Gallery, Schaffhausen, 15. – 29. September 2012
• Galerie am Hirschengraben, Zurich , February 26 - March 10, 2013

literature

• Markus Strübin: Encounters with Gustav Spörri 1902–76, homage to a Swiss ceramic artist who has almost been forgotten. Edition Strübin, Allschwil 2013, ISBN 978-3-033-03643-7 .

Web links

• Gustav Spörri website
• Gustav Spörri. In: Sikart

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Praxedis Kaspar: New book: The Schaffhausen ceramic artist Gustav Spörri in pictures and text. In: Schaffhauser AZ of March 21, 2013, on gustav-spoerri.ch
2. ↑ Malcolm Haslam: Marks & monograms: the decorative arts, 1880-1960. Collins & Brown, 1995, ISBN 1-85585024-9 , p. 170; Google Books
3. ↑ Switzerland Mid-Century: Ziegler Schaffhausen (1828-1964) & Gustav Spoerri. 20th Century European Ceramics
4. ↑ Genava , Volume 53, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Société auxiliaire du Musée de Genève, Geneva 2005, p. 442; Google Books
5. ^ Rolf Wipf: Collectors' hearts beat for art ceramics. In: Südkurier , June 17, 2011
6. ^ Biography Gustav Spörri , website on Gustav Spörri
7. ^ Biography on the website of Gustav Spörri.
8. ^ Gustav Spörri Collection , website of the collector Christoph Zihlmann
9. ↑ Norman Warbreck: Gustav Spörri: Keramik and the wonderful creations of a master potter ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Blog antiques international (Davos), March 13, 2014 
10. ↑ Glazed earthenware wallplate with decoration of horses, design Gustav Spörri. Website otterweg Auctions Amsterdam , April 9, 2013.
11. ↑ tabouret Wunderkammer ( Memento of the original from December 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Galerie tabouret Schaffhausen  
12. ↑ Quality from the past. Or: A mediator to the next generation. Stefano's Bulletin Board, April 16, 2013
13. ^ Gustav Spörri, book launch and exhibition, February 26th. - 10.03.2013 . ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Archive Galerie am Hirschengraben.