Venetian Masquerade at WMODA
Carnival is now in full swing in Venice and today, February 8th, is the “Ballad of the Masks” with the procession of the black bull in St. Mark’s Square. Last night the Wiener Museum of Decorative Arts held its own version of a Venetian masquerade as part of the current
Polikoff Library
WMODA is very proud to have received the Victor and Muriel Polikoff Library for the study of Wedgwood and Related English Ceramics. The late Victor and Muriel Polikoff were ardent collectors and scholars of Wedgwood and this very generous gift will enable the museum to offer greater educational resources to
Venetian Masks by Balocoloc
Balocoloc is represented in the USA by Giorgio Lurcotta, who came to Florida from his native Venice in 2001 to introduce his family’s company. With his team, he hand-crafts exquisite papier-mâché masks at his shop in Orlando. He is a true Venetian mask artisan and is part of a centuries-old
Zany Love Stories
With Valentine’s Day approaching we are highlighting the love stories from the Commedia dell’Arte which feature in our latest exhibition Carnival & Cabaret and its spectacular Lladró centerpiece. All the performances of the Italian comedy revolved around young lovers, the Innamorati, who are continually thwarted by their parents, notably Pantalone
Serpentine Ceramics
When Louise Irvine was curating Biophilia ǀ The Elements at WMODA, she was surprised to find lots of serpentine designs in the ceramics collection to display with Christopher Marley’s snake specimens. For instance, the Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre Tree Serpent design depicts a snake coiling around a tree and shooting out
Generous Gifts
Some of the most striking exhibits in Carnival & Cabaret have been loaned or donated to the museum by collectors who wish to support our mission of celebrating and preserving the fired arts of ceramics and arts. Jeff and Penny Spellens of California recently acquired the rarest version of the
Black History Month
February is Black History month and at WMODA we are exploring how the Zulus have honored their heritage at Ardmore Ceramic Art in South Africa. As well as all the whimsical safari animals and vases decorated with local flora and fauna on display at the museum, the Ardmore sculptors have
The Golden Years of Goldscheider
Goldscheider production was interrupted during World War One but the roaring twenties saw a glittering revival thanks mainly to Marcel Goldscheider who became technical and artistic director having studied ceramic art in Vienna, France and England. A new decorative technique for Viennese Faience was patented in 1923 which combined underglaze
Goldscheider’s Golden Debut
Goldscheider of Vienna now has a greater prominence at WMODA museum thanks to the generosity of Arthur Wiener and other keen collectors. The Goldscheider family first became involved in the ceramics business in the 1870s. One of their ancestors was the foremost gold refiner and alchemist in Prague during the
Adam and Eve
By Louise Irvine Adam and Eve were the first man and woman according to the creation theory. In the Bible, God formed Adam from dust and placed him in the Garden of Eden where he is told he can eat freely except from the tree of the knowledge of good