The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

Elephant

c. 1937
made by

Gmundner Keramik

(Austrian, founded 1903)
Austria, Vienna
glazed ceramic
Overall: 8.3 x 5.7 cm (3 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.)
Educational Purchase Fund 1937.432
Location: Not on view

Description

Austrian designers Walter Bosse and Kitty Rix feature colorful, bright forms in their ceramic figures that conjure whimsy and invite imagined stories. Their exaggerated features—such as oversize eyes, ears, and whiskers as well as elongated necks or shortened limbs—use caricature to emphasize elements of form, engaging the viewer through humor and charm. Throughout their careers, Bosse and Rix produced modernist designs for the two leading artist workshops—the Wiener Werkstätte and the Austrian Werkbund.
  • 1937
    (Gmundner Keramik, Vienna, Austria, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1937-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Elephant|url=false|author=Gmundner Keramik|year=c. 1937|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1937.432