Small Brown Sgraffito Vase by Johannes-Andreas Urban (G D R)

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A small, unglazed, sgraffito vase from the studio of Johannes-Andreas Urban of Friedrichroda, Germany. The brown clay is typical of … Read more A small, unglazed, sgraffito vase from the studio of Johannes-Andreas Urban of Friedrichroda, Germany. The brown clay is typical of his work, although he also used an off-white clay at times. His hand-thrown pots—which tend to be rather delicate and thin-walled—are usually decorated with sgraffito designs and earth-tone washes.

JOHANNES-ANDREAS URBAN (b. 1919) is/was? a master potter who opened a workshop in the middle of the 20th century in the small German town of Friedrichroda, in the northwestern part of the Thuringian Forest. When Germany was partitioned after WWII, all of Thuringia, including Friedrichroda, came under Soviet control. As is the case with many of the potters whose careers began in the shadow of the Iron Curtain in the early years of the GDR, information is scarce. Happily, his work speaks for itself. (There are some indications online that his workshop might still exist.) See less