Pot

Image Not Available
Copied Paul Soldner, Pot, ca. 1958, glazed stoneware, 21 3⁄4 x 20 3⁄4 in. (55.3 x 52.7 cm) diam., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Hermine and Lloyd Beck, 1991.175.5

Artwork Details

Title
Pot
Artist
Date
ca. 1958
Location
Dimensions
21 3⁄4 x 20 3⁄4 in. (55.3 x 52.7 cm) diam.
Credit Line
Gift of Hermine and Lloyd Beck
Mediums
Mediums Description
glazed stoneware
Classifications
Object Number
1991.175.5
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1991.175.5

Artwork Description

Paul Soldner turns our expectations of beauty and function upside down by inverting the body of this pot on its short pedestal. By leaving a tiny square opening at the “top” of the piece (which used to be the “bottom”), the artist makes his pot perfectly useless. But Soldner carved out the graceful outlines of irregularly shaped leaves to make his pot beautiful, and if he had not turned the pot on its head, the viewer would not see the leaves clearly.