Vally Wieselthier: Ceramic Sculptor

Edited by: Lilli Hollein, Rainald Franz and Anne-Katrin Rossberg

Vally Wieselthier was a student of Josef Hoffmann and Michael Powolny at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts and is considered the most prominent representative of the Wiener Werkstätte ceramics, which were shaped entirely by women artists. From 1927, she headed the production workshop and developed a new form of ceramic sculpture of hitherto unknown expressiveness. The exhibition at the MAK can draw on significant, partly never before shown objects from European collections and from Wieselthier's estate in the USA. With the archive of the Wiener Werkstätte, the MAK already possesses unique sources and objects related to her life and work, which are now substantially enriched by the donation of the entire paper estate to the museum. This makes it possible to trace the development of the ceramicist in Europe and her little-known career in the USA.

With Vally Wieselthier. Image and Sound, the publication accompanying the exhibition of the same name, the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna comprehensively focuses on her career in Europe and the United States for the first time. In Wieselthier's work, art and functional objects, craftsmanship and expressive design come together. Furthermore, it tells the story of a humorous, self-confident woman who also caused a sensation in her second home, New York.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition 'Vally Wieselthier. Ceramic Sculptor', Central Hall MAK Design Lab. 29.4.2026—10.1.2027