The only ceramics museum in Central Germany was already founded in 1880 as a collection of models. So actually it might be the oldest specialized museum for ceramics. The history of the pottery craftsmanship in Bürgel and of the masters is documented from the provable beginnings in the middle of the 17th century to present times.
Since May 2003 the informative permanent exhibition has been presented in the historically registered reconstructed “Old School Building” in the centre of the town. Among others there are examples of earthenware with Engobe painting »earthenware with Engobe painting«Earthenware with Engobe painting is relatively low fired ceramics – fired by low temperatures. As the body is not completely sintered, it is porous and water permeable without glaze. The surface is well suitable for decoration with coloured liquid clays (Engobes). The Engobes applied by dipping are often painted with liquid clays of other colours additionally. A widespread tool used for this activity has been the so-called “Malhörnchen” or also named as “Gießbüchse”. It is a small vessel, mostly made of clay with a quill allowing to apply the thick clay as decors with dots and flowing lines. The created pattern can be felt as a higher structure on the surface of the decorated ceramics. One of the German centres of Engobe painting has been the East-Thuringian place Bürgel up to today. The Krehan potters manufactured vessels with decors made with the help of this tool (Malhörnchen) in their Dornburg workshop. , stoneware»stoneware«The ceramics fired at high temperatures up to 1300 degrees centigrade is called stoneware. The body is totally sintered. That means the fired clay has reached the maximum grade of compression and is therefore not any longer water permeable. As stoneware vessels do not absorb any particles of the stored food and can be cleaned without any residue, they were essential for storage for many centuries. The manufacture of stoneware has mainly contributed to establishing Bürgel as town of pottery. The East-Thuringian town was one of the centres of stoneware production in Germany. fired at very high temperatures with the typical so called »Blauen Schürze« »Blaue Schürze«In Bürgel, also temporarily in the north eastern region adjoining around Schkölen and Zeitz, the high quality stoneware vessels were decorated with a glaze to be thrown made of crushed blue glass, common salt and lead oxide. Throwing the glaze powder was done when the highest temperature was reached during firing. As the glaze mixture, also called “Smalte”, is thrown only from one side into the kiln, the hit vessels mostly have differently large glaze spots on one side the so-called “Blaue Schürze “ or “Blauschürze”. This glazing procedure was probably used from the 18th century to the end of the 1930s and is typical for the décor of the Bürgel stoneware and the master potters belonging to the Bürgel guild. This procedure was also used by Max Krehan in Dornburg at the beginning of the 1920s. as well as luxury ceramics manufactured in the periods of historicism, Art Nouveau and in the 1920s.
One emphasis is put on ceramics after designs by Henry van de Velde (see below) that were manufactured in wide varieties in Bürgel starting in 1902/03. The works of following potter personalities like Carl Fischer (see below) and Walter Gebauer (see below) are also on display as well as pieces of the Bürgel blue and white ceramics»Bürgel blue and white ceramics«Although the Bürgel blue and white ceramic is only one of many décor variations for the pieces of pottery manufactured in the East-Thuringian town, vessels with blue Engobe and white dots have given the town and its ceramics a product image widely seen as characteristic. The beginning of the décor is unclear. Evidently, tea and coffee sets designed by Henry van de Velde with the blue and white Engobe décor were marketed at about 1910. In the 1970s the blue and white ceramics became the characteristic product of the Bürgel potteries by neglecting other decors. Until today many customers have expected the Bürgel blue and white range. On the other hand most of the potteries have expanded their range by other decors..
The project to transform the Dornburg Pottery Workshop to a museum is taken care by the Bürgel museum. So far two important periods in the Dornburg ceramics history have already been honoured with special exhibitions of the former Bauhaus potter Otto Lindig (2009/10) and the ceramicists family Körting (2012). Catalogues have been published for the special exhibitions in our own museum’s series. This might be the most important catalogue series about German ceramics history at present
A script series is also available in the museum’s shop as well as a choice of products made in regional potteries. The steadily growing number of the collection concerning the Dornburg Pottery Workshop are stored under good conservation conditions and professional care in the Bürgel museum, too. There are important items on loan for a long time from the Sparkassen-Cultural Foundation Hessen-Thüringen — collection Winnicke, family Körting, collection Breitenbach and the Ernst von Siemens – Art Foundation.
Personalities
Henry van de VeldeCarl FischerWalter Gebauer
Henry van de Velde (1863 – 1957) was one of the most important artists of the Art Nouveau period. He particularly developed the extremely fruitful creative activity of this period during his time in Weimar as a kind of artistic mentor/ consultant in the Grand Duchy Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach and finally as the head of the Arts and Crafts School he founded here. In 1902 van de Velde visited Bürgel for the first time and closely cooperated with several ceramics manufacturers afterwards. He provided at least 60 designs for ceramic vessels himself. In addition there were numerous designs by students of the School of Arts and Crafts (the number cannot be verified). Due to his influence the ceramics manufacture in Bürgel was stimulated sustainably. Stylistic and technical features allow speaking of characteristic Bürgel Art-Nouveau ceramics.
Carl Fischer (1891-1969)
was born in the Saxonian town of Döbeln and underwent a training at the Ceramics College in Bunzlau. After that he acquired a manufactory in Bürgel and founded the Bürgel Art Ceramics Workshop (BKW). At the beginning still obliged to the style of the previous pottery he soon set his own trends: first with developing multicoloured drip glazes and later with new shapes of ceramic vessels. In addition to glazed decors the slipware coating always played an important role. The Fischer pottery was probably the first workshop in Bürgel in which decors were carved in monochrome Engobe. After 1945 blue and white Engobe ceramics dominated, the carved ornaments were combined with the slipware painting forming the typical “Fischer style”.
Walter Gebauer (1907-1989) is regarded one of the most important East German ceramicists. He was the son of Paul Gebauer with whom he had worked in Bürgel in a craft pottery since 1934. He passed the examination at the end of his apprenticeship in the factory of his uncle Carl Gebauer in 1925. From 1925 to 1927 he studied at the Ceramics College in Bunzlau. In 1945 he was elected head of guild of the Thuringian potters’ guild. For decades he devoted himself to the training of young potters and implemented high standards, still accepted nowadays. Starting with traditionally decorated earthenware, he expanded the profile of his workshop step by step. The glaze became more and more important in his ceramic creative activity, contributing to the rejuvenation of the vessel aesthetics after 1945. Gebauer was one of the leading German specialists in the field of crystal glazes. His merits are honoured by awarding the Walter-Gebauer-Ceramics-Prize annually at the occasion of the Pottery Market in Bürgel.
