Blue ceramic serving bowl

Edgar Miller
c. 1939
Etched glazed ceramic

Miller was prolific in ceramic decoration and design. This particular bowl is a rare example for Miller, however, in that he employed a reductive technique for its illustrations. It features a glossy, light etched-glaze exterior with various animal and floral patterns encircling it. While the design motifs are trademark Miller figurations, the etching technique is only seen in one other example that he produced (which can also be found on the tour in the Gallery). This piece was first glazed in an almost lapis lazuli shade of blue and left to set; then Miller took a sharp-tip tool and lightly etched the patterns and designs into the hardened glaze. Compared to regular ceramic painting, mistakes would be much harder to cover up, and so a steady, light, and meticulous hand was necessary to create illustrations without cracking the glaze. Perhaps due to the difficulty of this technique, Miller did not fabricate too many ceramics in this style.

Originally the bowl and the other one like it were part of the collection of artist-designers Robert and Eileen Gatechair, who were students of László Moholy-Nagy at Chicago's New Bauhaus, sometime in the early 1940s. They could have known Miller through his occasional acquaintance with their teacher and the school, or through some other less obvious connection, such as being mutual friends in the artistic and cultural groups of Chicago. Certainly collecting an Edgar Miller-designed artwork was less rare in those days, when he was more well known in the local art and design community of the time.