Lea Henie Halpern

Avocado

1929-1939

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Lea Henie Halpern

Avocado

Lea Henie Halpern

Avocado

1929-1939

Physical Qualities Glazed stoneware, 10 3/8 x 5 x 5 in. (26.4 x 12.7 x 12.7 cm)

Credit Line Purchase with exchange funds from Gift of Albert Hendler, Bernard R. Hendler, Bernice Hendler Kolodny and Florence Hendler Trupp

Object Number 1964.16

Textured surfaces and organic shapes, as seen here, were central to the American studio pottery movement, which began in the 1930s and 1940s. Potters discarded uniform glazes, ornate patterns, and gilding in favor of crackled surfaces, thick clay bodies, and dripping colors. Women from both the West and East Coast were prominent in revolutionizing ceramics. Gertrud Natzler, a World War II refugee, and Laura Andreson led California craft circles, while Lea Henie Halpern, also a World War II refugee, crafted her amorphic surfaces in Baltimore.

The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1964; the artist

The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Lea Halpern", January 27-March 21, 1976.

Leslie Freudenheim, "Lea Halpern," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1976, no. 15, ill. (unpaginated)

Inscribed: "L.H.Halpern" (incised and pigmented black on base) "W1" (incised on base) "229H" (on small paper label on base) Additional 4 pigmented characters on base, mostly illegible. See object file.