Zsolnay, Vilmos

In 1853 a small ceramics factory was established the southwest of Hungary in the town of Pecs. In 1868 Vilmos Zsolnay (1828-1900), the well educated and artistic second son of the original founder became the sole-proprietor of the factory. The clever industrialist nature of Vilmos can be illustrated with his acquisition of riverbeds and sites for raw materials, as well as the training of workers at a school founded at the factory. These innovations propelled the industrial aspect of his factory, guaranteeing a supply of raw materials and talent to turn the materials into product. Where these were the foundations of success, the technical advances of the factory were what really gained the early acclaim and respect of the world audience. Most notably were advances in architectural ceramics including beautifully decorated roofing tiles which were freeze resistant, and durable road building cobbles made in stoneware. These technical achievements where the factors in the companies financial success which opened the door for their crowning feat, the creation of the Eosine glaze and the ceramic artwork made using this glaze.

Some of the world exhibitions in which Zsolnay participated were: Weltausstellung Wien 1873, Exposition Universelle de Paris 1878, International Exhibition Sydney 1879-1880, International Exhibition Melbourne 1880-1881, Columbian Exposition Chicago 1893, Exposition Universelle d'Anvers (Antwerpe) 1894, Exhibition d'Nice 1894-1895, Exposition Internationale de Bruxelles 1897, Exposition Universelle de Paris 1900, and the Exposizione Internazionale d'Arte Decorativa Moderna, Torino, 1902. The works by the Zsolnay factory were acclaimed with awards at every one of these expositions.

It is well known that in 1889, when Vilmos was exhibiting in Paris, he was highly influenced by the works of Clement Massier, who was exposing for the first time his 'reflective-metallic' glaze. It was soon after that the first successful experiments in iridescent glazes were documented at the Zsolnay factory. It is my opinion that with Vilmos' wealth, combined with his unthreatening distant location, he was able to procure knowledge of Massier's experiments during that visit. How much information was shared between the two is unknown. What started as a mild interest developed into one of the most exotic and prized glazes of all history, the Eosine glaze of the Zsolnay Manufactory.

Following the trends of the Art Nouveau and Jugendstil movements, Vilmos and his principle designer Tade Sikorski, utilized the newly developed Eosine glaze to create magical works. The criticism of the Viennese wholesaler Ernst Wahliss was highly influential in the trends at the Zsolnay factory. Attempting to appeal to world markets successful design ideas were varied and repeated to endlessly innovative groups of similar models. These 'series' include landscapes based on the designs of Ripple-Ronai, the Nabis painter, animal form vessels based on Japanese vessel-forms, tulips, biomorphic freeforms, Mucha styles female figural vases and chargers, faux-hammered metal surfaces, twisted organic forms based on microscopic creatures and ocean life, and abstracted patterns to name a few. These objects were extremely expensive to produce and difficult to execute. The process of production was multi-staged involving many artisans and technicians. As an illustration I will detail a possible example-

Design on paper, pencil>watercolor
Creation of form
Creation of Mould
Specialist to fill moulds with clay mixtures
Specialists to make these mixtures as well as chemists who created the formulas
Kiln technician:Regulated the temperature and placement of works to be fired Very touchy since there were no electric kilns, wood, coal, and gas were used.
After-firing finisher, polishing and finishing the surface of the fired vessels to remove mould lines or rough surfaces.
Throwers of vessels, hand-builders. These specialists formed vessels by hand and applied relief to molded vessels.
Decorators, glazing experts who decorated the surfaces of the vessels. There were specialists for each glaze type of which there were many.
Back to the kilns, as many as 10 firings.
The guy who breaks the mistakes and misfires.

Miklos Zsolnay (1800-1880) Father to Vilmos Zsolnay. Founded the Zsolnay factory which
eventually taken over by Vilmos.

Vilmos Zsolnay (1828-1900) Studied at Vienna's Polytechnical High School. In 1864 he took over the
ceramics factory of his family located in Pecs, Hungary. He studied the technical aspects of ceramics and
by 1874 became technical manager of his company. He developed the Eosine glaze and many innovative
ideas for refining the ceramics process.

Tade Sikorski (1852-1940) Married Julia Zsolnay, daughter to Vilmos, and became the principle designer for the factory from 1890-1910.

Jozsef Rippl-Ronai (1861-1927) Nabis painter who designed and painted ceramics at the Zsolnay factory.

Walter Crane (1845-1915) Pre-Raphaelite painter who visited and worked at the Zsolnay factory in Eosine glaze.

Sandor Apati-Apt (1870-1916) Symbolist painter and designer for the Zsolnay factory. Abt's designs are some of the most dynamic and prized by Zsolnay collectors.

Lazslo Mack (1876-1963) Designed for the Zsolnay factory during the Art Nouveau period, and is most well known for he figural ceramic vessels.

Henrik Darilek Little information on this important Zsolnay designer. He is well known to have designed many forms during the Art Nouveau period, mainly forms with fantastic
creatures in relief.

Julia Zsolnay (1856-1950) Second daughter born to Vilmos Zsolnay, she was an important designer and painter.

I invite you to visit the gallery in New York and see the current Zsolnay works.