Vally Wieselthier
Tobacco Box (ceramic)
circa 1922
This artist’s œuvre is recognised by its long ‘swimming’ figural pieces, sometimes independent in dimensions (such as single elongated female heads) while at other times integrated as reliefs (usually high) on functional objects, such as ash trays and dishes. This tobacco box, by chance, features a low-relief registry of Wieselthier’s lovely pipe-chorkling characters, each floating in its own bubble of two-dimensional existence along with curling trundles of spindly budded foliage. Left unhinged and unfinished within, the box’s lid lifts off completely to reveal a chalky and almost brick-like grainy interior, raw in simplicity. The box’s feet and edges, however, are boldly painted in a simulated watercolour palette of deep runny blues, with the darkest concentration settling, naturally, at the bottom along the undulating and rococo-esque hemline. A definitive part of the Wiener Werkstätte ‘look’, Wieselthier's style defined one of the movement's main supportive pillars with a well-rounded edge of acceptance of the beauty found in willowy dancing figurines.
