Description
Type: Studio Pottery
Design: Richard Bampi (* 1896, † 1965)
Carrying out: Fayence-Manufaktur Richard Bampi, Kandern
Object: Vase
Dimensions: Height: 7.5 cm; Diameter: 9.5 cm
Shard: yellowish-brown
Surface: white and brown glaze with a minimal proportion of blue
Manufacture period: 1941 – approximately 1952
Condition: small bump inside the foot rim
Signature/mark: RB stamp
Details:
Thrown ceramic vase from the Fayence-Manufaktur Richard Bampi, Kandern. Walter Gropius, under whom Bampi studied architecture at the Bauhaus in 1919, recommended Bampi instead of merely drawing, to learn a trade [1]. Richard Bampi is known for his pastose running glazes. According to the mark, this vase was made between 1941 and around 1952 [2]. From 1941 the ceramist Richard Bampi worked with the painter Julius Bissier on certain pieces. Bissier made Richard Bampi familiar with the philosophy of Zen Buddhism [3].
It is not clear that Bissier designed this vase. Nevertheless, this vase can be understood as an expression of the aesthetic concept of Zen Buddhism – the Wabi-Sabi. According to this concept the beauty is shown, among other things, in the simplicity (here in form and color) and the randomness (expressed by the irregular glaze) [4].
Footnotes:
1. Verein für keramische Kunst e.V., Keramion – Museum für zeitgenössische keramische Kunst (ed.): Kunst im Keramion, 19, Richard Bampi, Frechen 1981, p. 18.
2. Verein für keramische Kunst e.V., Keramion – Museum für zeitgenössische keramische Kunst (ed.): Kunst im Keramion, 19, Richard Bampi, Frechen 1981, p. 142.
3. Verein für keramische Kunst e.V., Keramion – Museum für zeitgenössische keramische Kunst (ed.): Kunst im Keramion, 19, Richard Bampi, Frechen 1981, p. 48.
4. aus d. Museum für Völkerkunde Leipzig. Einf. u. Erl. von Karla Bilang: Japanische Keramik, Leipzig 1978, p. XI.
