Matopos Romance

Artist / Maker Dean Schwarz ((American, b. 1938))

Date1998

MediumPottery, thrown and hand decorated

ClassificationsDecorative Arts, Ceramics

Credit LineGift of Rudolf and Deborah Herrmann. In the permanent collection, Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberUM2018.227

Status

Not on view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Label TextFrom the University Museums Collections Handbook, vol. 2, 2025: Dean Schwarz is a prolific potter with an international reputation and an important figure in the development of the pottery tradition in Iowa. He has spent much of his career creating functional pottery, but with a unique painterly and artistic quality that has led to great recognition. His pottery is traditional in form but imbued with the history of the medium and the imaginative eye of the maker. Schwarz worked at Pond Farm in California with Marguerite Widenhain who had been trained at the Bauhaus in Germany and had a great influence on his process and work. Schwarz taught at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa from 1964 to 1984, where he helped to develop the ceramics program. He also operated his own private summer school dedicated to the creation of art, such as pottery, painting, and poetry. He traveled widely and the influences of his many interests can be found in his pottery, from Latin America to Korea to Africa. Matopos Romance exhibits Schwarz’s technical skill through its large size and includes many of his characteristic decorative techniques. Created after traveling to Africa, the influences are obvious in the images of deer-like animals and human figures holding spears or staffs.

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