Theodor Bogler (1897-1968) led a multifaceted life, filled with different pursuits. Among his many endeavors, he was a soldier, a Bauhaus student, an accomplished potter, a prolific writer, a monk, and the prior of an abbey in Germany. Today Bogler is probably best remembered for his ceramic designs for industrial production. With these works he not only supported the Bauhaus initiative to unify art and technology, but he also embraced the school’s proclivity for “new materials, more stripped-down forms, and a spare, functional aesthetic.”[i] In the Kamm Collection there is a rare example of one of Bogler’s designs. Known as the Combination Teapot, it was created in collaboration with the master potter Otto Lindig.[ii] This teapot, which is paired with a matching creamer and sugar bowl, was a prototype that ultimately never made it to the manufacturer’s assembly line.
Biography
Bogler, who was born in Hofgeismar, Germany, came from a creative family. His grandfather was an architect, and his brother became a painter.[iii] After the First World War, in which Bogler served as an officer, he decided to also pursue an artistic path.[iv] In the fall of 1919, he enrolled at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany. Bogler was in search of “a new profession and purpose” and he was not alone in his quest. [v] Many Bauhaus students were looking to start “afresh with …ideals, energies, gifts, and devotion…”[vi] Initially Bogler took a preliminary course taught by Johannes Itten and some classes with Lyonel Feininger. [vii] Then, he found his place at the Bauhaus ceramics workshop in Dornburg which was directed by the acclaimed artist Gerhard Marcks and the master potter Max Krehan.[viii] Bogler felt the “craft” in the “primal form of pottery” suited him.[ix] In Dornburg he would complete his apprenticeship as a potter and in July of 1922 he passed his journeyman’s examination. Bogler was one of the first Bauhaus ceramic students to accomplish this task. He would stay at the school until the end of 1924. After his departure, Bogler accepted a position at the Velten-Vordamm stoneware factory near Berlin.[x] As their artistic director, he would continue exploring concepts he had begun investigating at the Bauhaus.[xi] The Kamm Collection has an example of one of these designs, a prototype for a teapot dated 1925-1926.
Tragically Bogler’s wife committed suicide not long after he arrived at Velten-Vordamm. This event would be life changing. To find some solace, Bogler turned to the Catholic Church and in a relatively short period of time he decided to devote himself fully to his faith. In January of 1927 he joined the Benedictine Order and moved to the Maria Laach Abbey, a center of radical right-wing Catholicism in the Eifel region of Germany. [xii] Bogler would become a monk in 1931 and in 1932, a priest.[xiii] While at Maria Laach, he would act as its prior for ten years, build up their art publishing house called Ars Liturgica, and write numerous books on religion. Bogler would also continue his work in clay. He kept designing for Velten-Vordamm, took on new clients like the Staatliche Majolika Manufacktur in Karlsruhe, and he would establish a Bauhaus-inspired pottery practice at Maria Laach that continues today.[xiv]
Kamm Collection
The Kamm Collection’s Combination Teapot, or Kombinationsteekanne in German, was the direct result of an initiative set forth by Bauhaus Director Walter Gropius. Gropius wanted the ceramics workshop to move from its “‘romantic,’ craft-based ethos” to making “effective industrial prototypes.”[xv] He “enlisted” Bogler to help with this objective.[xvi] One of the designs that he developed, in collaboration with Otto Lindig, was a modular ‘kit’ of molded ceramic parts that could be combined to create a teapot. In essence, separate handles, spouts, and lids could be attached to a body “in different positions to produce alternate versions of the standard form.”[xvii] During the design process, the sculpture workshop assisted with the plaster molds and the textile and metal workshops helped with the handles, which in some instances were wrapped with cane or cord coverings. Unfortunately for Bogler, the process of “attaching the individual cast parts required considerable time and handwork,” which made these vessels expensive and complicated to manufacture.[xviii] Furthermore, the quality of the prototypes lacked consistency. In the end, the Combination Teapot was considered a “heroic failure.”[xix] The design was never licensed for commercial production even though there was interest at trade fairs in 1924.
The example in the Kamm Collection was executed in 1923 by Otto Lindig. It is one of a small group of teapots that were initially made at the Bauhaus in Dornburg. The accompanying sugar bowl and creamer were also made by Lindig between 1923 and 1926.[xx] The teapot’s geometric design contains a wide cylindrical body and tapered spout. The top of the vessel is flat with a round lid and a squared metal handle. The shape of the sugar bowl is also cylindrical, but the creamer has a more bulbous form with a u-shaped handle. The exterior of the entire set is covered in a metallic brown lustered glaze, but the interiors are a surprising mint green.
When the Combination Teapot was being developed, there were a series of events that transpired that should be mentioned. First of all, the Bauhaus had their first major exhibition in 1923 that emphasized the school’s directive to unify art and technology.[xxi] Bogler was involved with the planning of that show and in preparation he would search for and meet potential collaborators. One of those collaborators was Velten-Vordamm. At their factory Bogler learned how to make plaster molds for slip-casting. He would apply this technique to the Combination Teapot as well as other modular designs, such as his storage containers, which would be included in the Bauhaus exhibition.[xxii] After visiting Velten-Vordamm, Bogler and Lindig would be inspired in other ways. They formulated a clay body that was “more plastic and higher firing” for casting and the “rustic” Bauhaus ceramics workshop was transformed into a space “dedicated to serial production.”[xxiii] Unfortunately, these changes would create tension within the ceramics department with some individuals resisting the new direction. In 1925, when the Bauhaus moved to its Dassau location, the ceramics workshop would close. It was “the first of the school’s ten workshops to engage actively with industry.” [xxiv] Today the Combination Teapot is simultaneously a reflection of their achievements as well as the complications they faced as they became a laboratory for industrial design.
Further Reading:
Bergdoll, Barry and Leah Dickerman. Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2009.
Weber, Klaus and Daniela Sannwald. Keramik und Bauhaus. Berlin: Kupfergraben Verlagsgesellschaft mbH/Bauhaus-Archiv, 1989.
Notes: