»Grace and Beauty – Natural Forms in Ceramics«

»I love flowers—the eyes of the Earth—which open upon their awakening to reveal to us, through their splendor, the Earth’s childlike delight; to speak to us of the gravity of her heavy, oppressive thoughts and her unfulfilled desires, and of the irony of her cruelty and her infinite sweetness.« Henry van de Velde penned these lines in his book AMO, published in 1909.

With his colorful flowing glazes and organic, plant-inspired forms, van de Velde ushered in a new spring for the town of Bürgel shortly after the turn of the century. As an artist, he drew inspiration not only from nature itself but also from Ernst Haeckel’s legendary publication, Art Forms in Nature (Kunstformen der Natur). The natural forms depicted therein inspired him to create his own abstractions, particularly for ceramics and textile patterns. Through his work, the Art Nouveau movement in Bürgel experienced—quite literally—a new blossoming, as vividly demonstrated by the ceramics produced at the C. A. Schack pottery factory.