Double-Portrait with Vally Wieselthier, 1929

Gudrun Baudisch-Wittke’s (1907–1982) female heads are painted with a thin slip and finished in bright colors, orange and blue, as she often preferred. The long-stretched necks, narrow faces, almond-shaped smokey eyes, rouged cheeks, slightly downcast gaze and short hair became trademark characteristics of the artist, giving her faces a mask-like expression. For the Wiener Werkstätte, Baudisch also designed—aside from ceramic figures, heads, vases, lamps, and mantelpieces—textile patterns, wall paintings, and interior decorations, as well as pieces in bronce and terracotta. Together with her colleague Vally Wieselthier (1895–1945) she designed the 1928 festive catalogue for the 25th anniversary of the Wiener Werkstätte. From 1930, she had her own ceramic workshop in Vienna for six years. Baudisch also designed wares and decorative patterns for the Gmunden Ceramics Manufactory.

EF, 2021