Otto Lindig (1895-1966) was a master potter, designer, and teacher. However, he is probably best remembered for his tenure at the Bauhaus ceramics workshop in Dornburg, Germany. At the school he swiftly mastered the technical challenges of working in clay, and in due course, he “became a leading figure among the apprentices and journeymen.”[i] Lindig’s work, which reflects his profound sensitivity to surface and form, would ultimately help “define the character of Bauhaus ceramics.”[ii]
Arts Background
While there is not a great deal of detailed information available about Lindig’s early life, some general facts are known. He was born in Pößneck, Germany, the second child of a baker and a factory worker.[iii] Around the age of fourteen, Lindig’s family moved to the nearby town of Lichte and he enrolled at a modelling school.[iv] This program helped prepare its students for work in the local porcelain factories, a path that Lindig might have briefly explored. However, after a few years in Lichte, he decided to train with the sculptor Max Bechstein at a trade school in Ilmenau.[v] This lasted until October of 1913 when Lindig enrolled at the School of Applied Arts in Weimar.[vi] The School of Applied Arts, which was under the direction of acclaimed artist and designer Henry van de Velde, was a highly regarded institution with “considerable influence.”[vii] There, Lindig would take various classes, including ceramics where he conceivably was exposed to all the “technical aspects” of working in clay.[viii] Interestingly, at this time Lindig also began taking a sculpture class from Richard Engelmann at the Weimar Academy of Fine Arts.[ix] Engelmann quickly engaged this young talent in his personal projects and he was eventually given the freedom to work independently within the studio.[x] As a mature artist, Lindig would not see himself as a “routine craftsman.”[xi] Instead, he was “a sculptor in clay.”[xii]
Bauhaus & Beyond
In 1920 Lindig would change the trajectory of his life in the arts. In the fall of that year, he relocated to Dornburg to start a pottery apprenticeship at the Bauhaus. Some scholars believe that the decision to study at the school, with the acclaimed artist Gerhard Marcks and the master potter Max Krehan, was motivated by financial constraints and the idea that ceramics would be more “lucrative.”[xiii] However, there is also evidence that Marcks personally “persuaded” him to make the move.[xiv] During his apprenticeship Lindig would have experienced “hard physical labor, including clay preparation, sawing and splitting wood, throwing on…mounted pottery wheels, and firing for days.”[xv] Only three apprentices would pass their journeyman’s examination in 1922: Marguerite Friedländer, Theodor Bogler, and Lindig.[xvi]
That same year there was “intense debate” brewing at the Bauhaus about the “future direction of the institution.”[xvii] These discussions ultimately resulted in a “reversal of values.”[xviii] In a 1923 speech Bauhaus director Walter Gropius announced the school’s new slogan: “Art and Technology: A New Unity.”[xix] In essence, Gropius wanted the students to “abandon the previous ‘romantic way of working’ in favor of a rational production of functional everyday objects.”[xx] In response to this directive Lindig and Bogler would seek out commercial partnerships, investigate the casting process utilizing plaster molds, and create a “design ‘laboratory’ within the rustic Bauhaus pottery.”[xxi] There they would launch into developing modular prototypes for industrial production. In 1924, Lindig took over the technical management of the ceramics workshop, and eventually its commercial management as well. He held this position until 1925, at which time the Bauhaus relocated to Dessau, Germany. Lindig would pass his master craftsman examination in 1926, and he would continue managing the pottery workshop in Dornburg. First, he operated the facility as part of the Weimar State College of Crafts and Architecture and later he leased the space himself.[xxii] In 1947 Gerhard Marcks offered Lindig a teaching position at the State College of Art in Hamburg.[xxiii] He remained there until his retirement in 1960.
Kamm Collection
The Kamm Collection has a Lindig coffee and tea service made by the State Majolica Manufactory (Staatliche Majolika Manufaktur) in Karlsruhe, Germany. It includes a teapot, coffeepot, sugar bowl, and creamer, as well as six cups, saucers, and plates. These works, which are created utilizing slip-cast earthenware, reveal some noticeable disparities. This is seen not only in the glaze color that ranges from a milky pink to cream, but in the surface texture as well which can be smooth or almost resemble an orange peel.[xxiv] The conclusion is that this is an assembled set from more than one production run between the dates of 1929 and 1962.[xxv] Some of the designs were perhaps conceived as early as 1923 and others originate from a later date.[xxvi] For instance, there is evidence that this cylindrical coffee pot might be based on a form developed by Lindig in 1923, but the globular teapot in this service was devised following the Bauhaus’ move to Dessau between 1925 and 1930.[xxvii]
Lindig seemed to “find his creative voice” around 1923 when he began producing work of “unmistakable character” that “harmoniously integrated all its parts.”[xxviii] Vessels and tableware now contained “clearly recognizable contrasts of form with organically vibrant contours, good handling, and a great variety of shapes.”[xxix] Furthermore, Lindig was now able to create works that possessed not only a “formal individuality,” but were also “ideal for mass production.”[xxx] When the Bauhaus moved to Dessau, he would continue to operate a workshop for serial production. This included any form created before 1926 that “was still considered valid.”[xxxi]
Lindig’s affiliation with the State Majolica Manufactory was prompted for one or multiple reasons. He might have partly initiated the liaison because he could not “meet the demands for regular supplies in large quantities” at the Dornburg workshop.[xxxii] However, another account states that this relationship began after the factory’s director, Miller von Baczko, saw a 1928 Bauhaus exhibition called Die Gebrauchswohnung. Baczko was “so struck” by the show that he decided to visit Lindig in Dornburg to select models for production.[xxxiii] The State Majolica Manufactory in Karlsruhe would offer Lindig’s designs for approximately thirty years.
Otto Lindig was clearly a pioneer in the fields of ceramics and industrial design. However, after his death in 1966, years would go by with little to no recognition. Today Lindig’s work is finally being acknowledged, and he is getting more credit for his contributions at the Bauhaus and beyond. With a “self-assured consistency” and a “straightforwardness,” he spent his life producing proportional, clean, elegant forms that contained “outward simplicity.”[xxxiv] These qualities are clearly visible in Lindig’s coffee and tea service in the Kamm Collection.
Further Reading/Viewing:
Bergdoll, Barry and Leah Dickerman. Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2009.
Clark, Garth. The Artful Teapot. New York: Thames & Hudson, Ltd., 2001.
Jakobson, Hans-Peter. Otto Lindig der Tӧpfer, 1895-1966. Karlsruhe, Germany: Museen der Stadt Gera, Museum für Kunsthandwerk im Ferberschen Haus, Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, 1990.
Weber, Klaus and Daniela Sannwald. Keramik und Bauhaus. Berlin: Kupfergraben Verlagsgesellschaft mbH/Bauhaus-Archiv, 1989.
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