Paul Bogatay

Paul Bogatay graduated from the Cleveland School of Art in 1928 and soon became one of the leaders of a group of artists working to elevate the status of ceramic sculpture. Bogatay worked at the Cowan Pottery studio and was a professor at Ohio State University and Kyoto University in Japan. The artist's figurative work reflects his fascination with Pacific and Asian cultures that he encountered when he traveled aboard freighters. He used his sculptures to demonstrate the natural beauty of clay at a time when many artists were denying the medium and trying to make it look like wood or stone.