Heinrich and Gertrud Meister-Zingg
Heinrich Meister (* July 7, 1894 in Binningen ; † April 11, 1972 in Dübendorf ) and Gertrud Meister-Zingg (* August 2, 1898 in Bern ; † March 2, 1984 in Uster ) were a Swiss ceramist couple.
Life
Heinrich (also Heinz or Heinz-Tobias) Meister, grew up in Münster , Alsace. He passed his high school diploma in Colmar . From 1912 he studied architecture at the ETH Zurich . There he met his future business partner, Josef Kövessi from Debrecen (Hungary), who studied political science and wrote a dissertation on the pottery industry in Switzerland. In 1919 Heinrich Meister broke off his studies and began a ceramic internship in the Wächter art pottery in Feldmeilen , together with Josef Kövessi. In 1920, together with Albert Meister, Heinrich's uncle, they founded the "A. Meister art ceramics workshop" in Stettbach , a district of Dübendorf.
In 1922 the ceramic painter Gertrud Zingg from Bern joined them. She had at the trade school in Bern, u. a. with Jakob Hermanns, trained as a ceramist from 1914 to 1918. Heinrich Meister and Gertrud Zingg married in 1924. In Stettbach she headed the painting department.
After Uncle Albert and Josef Kövessi left, the company "Kunstkeramikwerkstatt Meister & Cie." The company's first heyday came in the 1930s. Successful exports to other European countries and overseas began. One of the first apprentices in the company was Benno Geiger , who from 1935 to 1959 headed the ceramics department of the Aedermannsdorf pottery factory and in 1941 took over the management of the cantonal ceramic college in Bern.
In 1926 Heinrich and Gertrud Meister were accepted into the Swiss Werkbund SWB. Heinrich Meister became a member of the board of the Zurich section. Gertrud Meister-Zingg was also a member of the Society of Swiss Women Painters, Sculptors and Craftsmen (GSMBK). From around 1930 to 1959 Heinrich Meister was President of the Association of Swiss Master Potters and Pottery Manufacturers , which was replaced in 1959 by the AKS Swiss Ceramics Association , of which Heinrich Meister was one of the founding members.
After the Second World War, there was a renewed boom in business. Up to 20 people were employed. At the 2nd International Ceramics Congress in Zurich in 1950, Heinrich Meister gave one of the main presentations on the history of Swiss ceramics.
At the end of the 1950s, Heinrich Meister was concerned with the plan of setting up a practical adult education facility as a branch of the Migros Club School instead of the company . The plans came to nothing and in 1961 the company closed due to old age and declining demand.
plant
Heinrich and Gertrud Meister-Zingg belong to the “second generation of modern Swiss ceramists”, who are characterized by a variety of experiments with shapes, colors and decorations. As a career changer, Heinrich Meister became an internationally recognized “fashion designer” in ceramics. He created shapes of rare originality and freshness.
The most common products included vases , lamp bodies for interior decoration and ceramics such as bowls, jugs, etc. Gertrud modeled many figurative objects in addition to her painting activity.
A selection of master ceramics is kept in the collection center of the Swiss National Museum in Affoltern am Albis and in the ZHDK Museum for Design in Zurich .
Exhibitions
- Weese, E. Maria and Heinz Meister, ceramics exhibition, July 6 to August 10, 1924, Kunstgewerbemuseum Zurich
- Swiss National Exhibition "Landi", Ceramic Pavilion, 1939, Zurich
- “Show the master” - objects from the Erika Munz collection and historical documents from the Meister business and family archive. September 26 to October 18, 2014, Reformed Church Community Center, Dübendorf.
literature
- Guidelines of the Museum of Applied Arts of the City of Zurich, No. 55, Ceramic Exhibition Weese, E. Maria and Heinz Meister, Zurich 1924
- Erwin Kunz: From the past of the former master pottery maker in Stettbach. New Year's Gazette Zurich 11, Zurich 1966.
- Richard Kölliker: Master Ceramics - Heinrich and Gertrud Meister-Zingg and their art ceramics workshop in Dübendorf-Stettbach 1920–1961. Private printing (R. Kölliker) Schaffhausen 2014. 165 pp.
Web links
- Works by Heinz Meister , in the eMuseum of the ZHdK
- Heinrich and Gertrud Meister-Zingg on the Gustav Spörri website