As both a designer and a teacher, the Austrian ceramicist and glassware designer Michael Powolny was an important figure in the development of modernist aesthetics in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century. His romantic sculptural pottery figures embrace the lush, dynamic stylings of Gustav Klimt and other progressive artists, while his functional pieces — such as glass bowls and vases — employ the simple linear and geometric ornamentation that marked the work of Josef Hoffmann and other members of the Wiener Werkstätte community of designers and craftsmen.
Powolny received classical training in ceramics from his father, a potter, and at the Vienna School of Applied Arts, but later joined in the modernizing movement in the Austrian arts at the close of the 19th century. In 1897, Klimt, Hoffman, Koloman Moser and other artists and architects founded the Vienna Secession, a group that fought for freedom of expression against the city’s tradition-bound arts establishment. Powolny’s work reflects the changing times. He used classical figures in his ceramics — female nudes, cherubs — yet would dress them in modern ornament such as garlands of abstract, geometric flowers. Pieces from Powolny’s ceramics company were sold through the Wiener Werkstätte (Viennese Workshops) founded by Hoffmann and Moser, and Hoffman later hired Powolny to create ceramic ornamentation for his architectural masterpiece, the Palais Stoclet in Brussels.
Powolny would go on to design glassware that combines elegant, tapering forms with precise linear decoration. His most influential work may have come as a professor at the School of Applied Arts, where he taught both Lucie Rie, the great Austrian-British modernist ceramicist, and the American potter Viktor Schreckengost, creator of the “Jazz Bowl,” an icon of the Streamline Moderne design. As you will see from the items on offer, Michael Powolny’s works have a double appeal: in their sprightly, endearing forms and as artifacts that document a period of signal change in the history of modern arts and crafts.
Art Deco Green Colored Glazed Vintage Tile by Michael Powolny circa 1925 Austria
By Michael Powolny
Located in Vienna, AT
Art deco green colored glazed vintage tile, which shows a motif with a violinist. An amazing vintage tile designed by Michael Powolny, circa 1925, ...
Ceramic
Vintage Square Embossed Persian Ceramic Tile, Hand Painted, 1960s
Located in Delray Beach, FL
Vintage wall hanging Persian ceramic tile, hand painted and glazed in multicolour floral and geometric motifs.
Ceramic
$238
H 10.63 in W 9.45 in D 1.58 in
Mid Century Design Ceramic Wall Tile Decoration, Czechoslovakia, 1960s
Located in Praha, CZ
- Czechoslovakia, 1960s - Good original condition - Marked jr.
Ceramic
Roger Capron - Panel with 5 Ceramic Tiles - FISH 2
By Roger Capron
Located in Stratford, CT
Playful and whimsical, Capron’s art panels are the most sought after, as editions were small, and in some cases not more than a few, or by special commission. Some are rough and mat...
Ceramic
French Majolica Jugendstil Art Nouveau Ceramic Plate, circa 1900
Located in Boven Leeuwen, NL
Beautiful French Majolica wall plate from the Jugendstil / Art Nouveau period (ca 1900). Elegant design with a lovely lady in the middle. Nu...
Ceramic
Roger Capron - Panel with 5 Ceramic Tiles - FISH 3
By Roger Capron
Located in Stratford, CT
Playful and whimsical, Capron’s art panels are the most sought after, as editions were small, and in some cases not more than a few, or by special commission. Some are rough and mat...
Ceramic
$1,076
H 16.34 in W 5.32 in D 0.79 in
Set of Three 19th Century Spanish Hand Painted Glazed Ceramic Patterned Tiles
Located in Marbella, ES
Set of three 19th century Spanish hand painted glazed ceramic patterned tiles Dimensions exclude frame.
Ceramic
Roger Capron - Panel with 5 Ceramic Tiles - BIRD
By Roger Capron
Located in Stratford, CT
Playful and whimsical, Capron’s art panels are the most sought after, as editions were small, and in some cases not more than a few, or by special commission. Some are rough and mat...
Ceramic
$548Sale Price / set|59% Off
H 0.3 in W 5.15 in D 5.15 in
Set of Nine Antique Delft Wall Tiles, Hand Painted Blue & White
Located in Lincoln, Lincolnshire
These are NINE Delft ceramic wall tiles, all with different blue and white hand painted patterns, made in the Netherlands, from the 19th Century to the 17th Century, but mainly 18th Century. Each tile is nominally slightly over 5 inches square.. All nine tiles are unique, being individually hand painted with different scenes and patterns featuring various scenes with buildings, trees, watersides, boats and one floral, with most having spider motif corners. They are all enamelled in cobalt blue, using different shades of blue, which varies slightly from tile to tile as expected:- please see the images. Two of the tiles have scenes within double blue circles. NOTES: The central floral pattern tile is slightly thicker and dates to the 17th C Seven Tiles are 18th Century and one is 19th Century ( blue tinged glaze) Overall a beautiful set of individual hand painted antique Delft tiles...
Earthenware
$1,150
H 1.25 in W 10.25 in D 10.25 in
"Capricorn, " Important Art Deco Tile with Zodiac Theme by MacLeary
By Bonnie MacLeary
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Created by Bonnie MacLeary, a Texas-born sculptor famed for her "Aspiration" and "Ouch" bronzes, two of several created in the 1920s, this classic Art Deco tile...
Ceramic, Wood
$1,017
H 11.03 in W 11.03 in D 0.79 in
Set of Four 19th Century Portuguese Hand Painted Glazed Ceramic Patterned Tiles
Located in Marbella, ES
Antique set of four 19th century Portuguese hand painted glazed ceramic patterned tiles with white frame Dimension do not include frame.
Ceramic
$1,315
H 11.82 in W 11.82 in D 1.19 in
Giovanni de Simone Colored Ceramic Fish Squared Tile Plate, Italy 1960s
By Pablo Picasso, Giovanni de Simone
Located in Rome, IT
Beautiful squared wall mounted tile plate in colored ceramic representing three fishes by the Italian artisti Giovanni De Simone. Giovanni De Simone was a great Sicilian artist...
Ceramic, Terracotta, Pottery
$717
H 18.9 in W 9.85 in D 0.99 in
Mid-Century Modern Ceramic Relief Tile Plaque "Sailing" by Helmut Schaffenacker
By Helmut Friedrich Schäffenacker
Located in Nürnberg, Bayern
Mid-Century Modern Ceramic Relief Tile Plaque "Sailing" by Helmut Schaffenacker The plaque is impressed on reverse: "Schaffenacker Ulm/De Made in Germany handgeformt"
Ceramic