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Hillwood Museum & Gardens Salutes Designer Eva Zeisel
Event to Include Film and Book U. S. Premieres
Prototypes of New Zeisel Designs from Lomonosov Porcelain Factory on View
Hillwood Museum & Gardens will host the legendary designer Eva Zeisel on Sunday, April 6, in a daylong series of activities that highlight her life and career.
Jyll Johnstone’s new documentary about Ms. Zeisel’s life, “Throwing Curves,” will be shown, followed by a discussion with the renowned designer. Ms. Zeisel also will sign copies of “Eva Zeisel,” the only book about her, as will the book’s author, Lucie Young. In addition, a prototype of Zeisel’s new designs for the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory will be on display.
The 96-year-old Hungarian native is arguably the leading designer of mass-produced ceramics of the twentieth-century. Ms. Zeisel solidified her fame in America as the first woman to have a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1946 with a showing of her dinnerware.
Hillwood Museum & Gardens owns a Zeisel design: a Soviet-era porcelain tea service from the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory. It is part of Hillwood’s Russian art collection, and is on view in Hillwood’s current exhibit, “The Myths of St. Petersburg.”
Ms. Zeisel’s life journey is an extraordinary one. Born into a family of the Hungarian cultural elite in 1906, she worked her way through Europe as a designer in numerous factories. Ms. Zeisel faced execution in Stalin’s Soviet Union while working at the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, and in 1938 fled to America from the Nazis in Austria. She is now a United States citizen.
Her designs in various media have been produced by companies worldwide including in America; Nambé, Sears Roebuck & Co., Riverside China, General Mills, Federal Glass, Hall China, Bryce Bothers, and Western Stoneware; Mancioli (Italy), Rosenthal/Thomas (Germany), and Hyalyn, Noritake (Japan).
Zeisel’s work can be seen in museums and in prominent private collections throughout the world. Her design achievements have been acknowledged by awards and citations from The Royal College of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the American Society of Industrial Designers, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Hungarian government.
Sunday April 6 schedule:
Hillwood Museum & Gardens opens at 12 noon to 6 pm. The Mansion, gardens,
The Myths of St. Petersburg exhibit, café, and museum shop are available all day.
THROWING CURVES screenings followed by 30 minute Q &A with Eva Zeisel
12:30 – 2:00, 2:30- 4:00, 4:30- 6:00.
Continuous throughout the day:
EVA ZEISEL book signing with author Lucie Young.
Lomonosov models on display.
Ms. Zeisel signs vases.
Highlights talk on Zeisel tea service in the Hillwood collection.
Zeisel merchandise for sale in museum shop.
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED: 202-686-5807
$18 Public, $5 Students, $12 Hillwood members
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