Arnold Zahner.
German text with foreword by Rudolf Schnyder, English introduction by
Janet Mansfield, photographs by Hans Weber.
Buchhandelsausgabe: AS Buchkonzept AG, CH-8050, Zurich, Switzerland, 1994.
Hardcover, 205 pages.
Arnold Zahner was born into a family whose members had been Swiss potters for generations. When he began working as an artist potter in 1942, ceramics was not widely recognized as an art form. Yet, throughout a lifetime of work and travels in the Orient and in the United States, Zahner has engaged in the illusive pursuit of decorative glazes, especially crystalline glazes, all the while experimenting, learning and sharing his hard-won knowledge. Throughout a distinguished life he has considered himself only "a potter on his way."
Is glaze dead? This book is filled with splendid color photographs of Zahner's pots, each of which displays rich glaze plumage: magnificent blue-green and creamy crystals, deeply mysterious copper reds, warm and earthy feldspathic surfaces, constellations of blues - all executed with artistry and restraint. Arnold Zahner's message: Glaze is alive and well!
Reviewed by Gerry Williams. Studio Potter Network Newsletter, Spring 1995.