Vase

Axel Salto Danish
Manufacturer Royal Copenhagen Danish
1945
Not on view
This object represents one of the earliest shifts toward abstraction in ceramic art—the vessel, with its dynamic polyhedron shape covered in buds, defies function. Salto was among the first to expand the vocabulary and artistic potential of form in clay, his work notably predating that of American artists who would begin to experiment with tradition and functionality in the following decade (with the exception of the late nineteenth-century artist, George Ohr).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Vase
  • Artist: Axel Salto (Danish, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1889–1961, Frederiksburg, Denmark)
  • Manufacturer: Royal Copenhagen (Danish, 1775–present)
  • Date: 1945
  • Medium: Glazed stoneware
  • Dimensions: 19 3/4 × 16 3/4 × 6 3/4 in. (50.8 × 42.5 × 17.1 cm)
    Weight: 59.4 lb. (26943.663g)
  • Classification: Ceramics
  • Credit Line: Gift of Robert A. Ellison Jr., in celebration of the Museum's 150th Anniversary, 2020
  • Object Number: 2020.296.54
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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Axel Salto - Vase - The Metropolitan Museum of Art