With the exhibition COLLECTING IN FOCUS 12. Renate Fuhry The MAK honors the six-decade-long career of the ceramist Renate Fuhry (born 1938 in Witten, Germany, as Renate Müller), who left her mark in both Germany and Austria. Since moving to Vienna in 1960, Fuhry has been one of Austria’s most important ceramic artists. Around 80 selected objects from private collections and the MAK collection provide an insight into her work in the MAK Forum, which, despite its impressive consistency, has only rarely been shown to date.
After marrying the theater scholar Dieter Schrage, moving from Bochum to Vienna and the birth of her son Götz, the artist Renate Fuhry (then: Schrage), who trained at the Folkwang School for Design in Essen, the Werkkunstschule Krefeld and under Bruno and Ingeborg Asshoff, founded the company in 1961 her own ceramics studio in Vienna’s 12th district. As early as 1964, the ceramics curator and later director of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts (today MAK) Wilhelm Mrazek dedicated an exhibition to her – together with goldsmith’s works by Elisabeth Defner and Helfried Kodré.
From 1965 she ran a studio in the 1st district and networked closely with the Viennese art scene; She has a long-standing friendship with the Austro-American artist Kiki Kogelnik, during which she introduced Kogelnik to ceramics. At the beginning of the 1970s she took the name of her second husband, the designer Karl M. Fuhry, and began teaching plastic design at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, which lasted over 40 years.
All of her ceramics have a utilitarian character. Dark glazes in brown and blue as well as simple, natural shapes characterize her early work. From the 1970s onwards, also in collaboration with important ceramists from the Wiener Werkstätte such as Vally Wieselthier, Kitty Rix and Susi Singer, her style changed: sculptural forms joined the pure vessel form, colored glazes appeared, vases became monumental, bud-like structures.
Renate Fuhry remains true to the vase – her “life theme” – throughout her entire work. At the beginning of the 1980s, remarkable pieces were created in a free mix of colors and wall vases in lightning shapes. During this time, her oeuvre reached a new level of development with pink glazes and new free forms in the spirit of postmodernism. Ceramic wall works in indoor and outdoor spaces and stays in Germany, the USA and Mexico bring new inspiration. From the 2010s onwards, she expanded her repertoire to include bowls and plates in glaze painting with natural motifs.
Despite her lasting influence and unique style, Renate Fuhry does not receive the recognition she deserves in Austria. In 1976, the only major award she received was the art sponsorship award from the then Central Savings Bank of the Municipality of Vienna, which was accompanied by a commission for a wall design in their offices.
The MAK added works by Renate Fuhry to the collection in the 1960s and 1980s and is contributing to the exhibition as part of the series COLLECTING IN FOCUS to make their work and its importance for the Austrian arts and crafts scene known to a broader public. For the first time, the show covering all of her creative periods also includes objects from her late work, primarily bowls created after 2010.
Press photos are available for download at MAK.at/presse.
opening
Tuesday, January 28, 2025, 7 p.m
Free entry to the exhibition opening
Exhibition location
MAK MAK Forum,
Stubenring 5, 1010 Vienna
Duration of exhibition
29.1.-11.5.2025
Opening hours
Tue 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Wed to Sun 10 a.m. to 6 p.m
Curator
Rainald Franz, curator MAK Collection Glass and Ceramics, with thanks to Anna Sauer, archivist Kiki Kogelnik Foundation
Graphic design
Maria Anna Friedl
MAK entry
Ꞓ 16,50/15,50*
reduced Ꞓ 13.50/12.50*
every Tuesday 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.: entry Ꞓ 8/7.50*
Free entry for children and young people under 19
* Ticket price in online presale