Theodore Schmutz-Baudiss

Theodore Schmutz-Baudiss, a German painter and ceramist, was born in Herrnhut, Saxony, and trained in Munich from 1879-1890. According to an art critic writing in The Studio magazine [H.W.S., “Studio Talk, Dresden,” The Studio, March 1898 (vol. 13, no 60) p. 125] Schmutz-Baudiss came to make pots by accident. He was on a plein air painting vacation but, because the weather was bad, he stepped into the shop of the village potter. Intrigued, he took his first lesson on the wheel “just to kill time.” He later studied ceramics at the Diessen pottery (Ammersee, Bavaria, c. 1896).

In 1897 Schmutz-Baudiss was a cofounder of and designer for workshops in Munich and from 1901-02, a designer for Swaine & Co. (Huttensteinach, Thuringia). Describing his work of that period, art critic H.W.S reported that Schmutz-Baudiss’s ceramics were fully equal to those of France and Belgium. He was praised for his new forms and manner of ornament. His ornaments at that time were cut with a knife somewhat after the fashion of cameos. “For further tinting he uses chemical compositions of his own and has succeeded in producing some excellent, rich effects.”
Still Schmutz-Baudiss ‘s best known work was done at the Royal Porcelain Factory (known as KPM) in Berlin, where he was art director from 1902 to 1926.
Believing that KPM’s wares were behind the times, he encouraged the use of motifs drawn from nature. Seeking the most harmonious combination of forms and decors, he abandoned the practice of making preliminary sketches on paper, instead drawing freehand directly on the form. His compositions were asymmetrical and tended toward dark outlines, in the Japanese fashion that had by then been completely assimilated in Europe. His icy almost translucent palette was influenced by Scandinavian wares, particularly those coming from Rörstrand (in Sweden) and Royal Copenhagen (in Denmark).

Submitted by Jason Jacques Gallery