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Rudolf Staffel

Rudolf Staffel

Rudolf Staffel Portrait

Ceramic artist Rudolf Staffel was born in in 1911 in San Antonio, Texas. Known internationally for his revolutionary work in porcelain, Staffel created vessels that emphasize the elusive physical characteristics of the material: its ability to reflect and gather light as well as its translucency and plasticity. His exploration of these qualities resulted in work that is as stunning as it is singular. His first interest in art was Chinese and Japanese brushwork, which he discovered as a teenager. He briefly studied painting and glassblowing; it was not until the 1950s that he began working with porcelain, the medium that would serve as his muse for the rest of his career. Staffel was on the faculty of the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia for 38 years and retired as a professor emeritus. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, are among the institutions that have collections of his work. Rudolf Staffel received the American Craft Council’s Gold Medal in 1995. He died in 2002.