Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Credited with thousands of works and models for ceramic pieces, Walter Bosse was an intensely prolific designer. The modernist Austrian sculptor and ceramist was best known for his distinctive “Black Golden” series of decorative objects and figurines, particularly his hedgehog ashtrays. Bosse’s mid-century and Art Deco works were popular as gifts for politicians and royalty worldwide, remaining coveted among collectors today.
Bosse was born in Vienna in 1904 to artist parents — his father, Julius, was a portrait painter for the Austrian Imperial Court. Bosse studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna from 1918 to 1921 under Austrian sculptor Michael Powolny and Austrian painter Franz Cizek. Later, he continued at the Munich School of Applied Arts in Germany under Austrian architect and designer Josef Hoffmann, a founder of the Vienna Secession movement.
Early in his career, Bosse worked as a designer at several ceramics manufacturers, including Augarten Porcelain Works in 1924, Goldscheider Porcelain Manufactory and Majolica Factory in 1926 and Metzler and Ortloff in 1927. In 1925, Bosse displayed several pieces at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris, which introduced the Art Deco style to a global audience.
In 1931, Bosse opened a shop in Kufstein, Austria, selling ceramic gift items. Owing to the crippling economic effects of the Great Depression, however, Bosse was forced to close his shop in 1937. He returned to Vienna in 1938 and opened another business, Bosse Keramik, where he sold toys, glass, textiles and more. In the late 1940s, Bosse experimented with small-scale brass sculptures and desk accessories coated in black ceramic glaze. With Austrian designer Herta Baller, Bosse formed the Bosse-Baller company to manufacture the “Black Golden” line of figurines, which became wildly popular worldwide.
Despite Bosse’s success, he struggled financially and moved to Iserlohn, Germany, in 1953. Meanwhile, Baller continued to manufacture and sell Bosse’s designs, which were so popular that forgers copied and sold counterfeit editions of Bosse’s works around the world. The 1950s marked the debut of the artist’s whimsically zoomorphic hedgehog ashtrays — these were cast in brass, and a hedgehog ashtray in any other material is not a Bosse original.
Bosse spent the rest of his life embroiled in court battles to protect his designs, leaving him penniless by the time he died. Today authentic Bosse pieces — from wall-mounted sculptures to tableware — continue to be highly sought after by collectors.
Find vintage Walter Bosse serveware, wall decorations and more on 1stDibs.
1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Brass
Mid-20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Brass, Bronze
15th Century and Earlier Italian Mid-Century Modern Antique Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Brass
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Metal
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Bronze
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Brass
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Pine
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Brass
1950s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Malachite, Brass
Early 20th Century Egyptian Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Pine
1950s European Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Brass
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Metal
1970s Italian Industrial Vintage Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Brass
1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Terracotta
1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Ceramic
1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Bosse Building and Garden Elements
Terracotta
