Elsa Rady

1943Born New York, New York

2011Died Culver City, California

EDUCATION

1962-1966Ceramics, Chouinard Art Institute, now California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles, California

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1966-1968, 1989-1994Interpace Franciscan China Corporation, Glendale, California

UnknownStudio Artist, Venice, California

Elsa Rady is known for simple porcelain vessels, typically vases, bottles, and bowls. Many of her bowl forms have diagonal cuts at the rim, in order to visually create the feeling of centripetal motion. 

Rady used her work to reinterpret ancient classical ceramic forms and techniques, particularly those derived from Asian ceramic traditions. The simplicity and clean lines of her work also reflect mid-century modern aesthetics. She challenged the existing standards for ceramic display by creating custom wall-mounted shelves and suspending her works from stainless steel cords. 

Rady studied with Ralph Bacerra and Otto and Vivika Heino at the Chouinard Art Institute. She worked designing for both Interpace Franciscan China Corporation and Swid Powell Corporation. She maintained her studio in Venice, California.

She signed her work on the foot with either her first or last name often accompanied by the date and the copyright symbol. Her ceramics have become icons of contemporary design. 

Public Collections

Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona

Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York

Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, California

Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California

Dallas Museum of Art, Texas

Denver Art Museum, Colorado

Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan

Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York

John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California

Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

Newark Museum,Newark, New Jersey

Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, Utah

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington D.C.

Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, New York

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

Bibliography

Clark, Garth. American Ceramics 1876 to the Present. New York, NY: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1987.

_________, and Cindy Strauss. Shifting Paradigms in Contemporary Ceramics: The Garth Clark & Mark Del Vecchio Collection. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012.

DuPont, Diana C. The Art of Elsa Rady and Robert Mapplethorpe. Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1993.

Lauria, Jo. Color and Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics 1950-2000. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art with Rizzoli Publishers International, 2000.

Levin, Elaine. The History of American Ceramics from Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams Inc., Publishers, 1988.

Perreault, John. Elsa Rady. New York, NY: Holly Solomon Gallery, 1990.

Perry, Barbara. American Ceramics: The Collection of Everson Museum of Art. Syracuse, NY: Everson Museum of Art with Rizzoli International Publications, 1989.

Rady, Elsa. Elsa Rady Porcelain. Janus Gallery, 1984. 

	This research was supported by a Craft Research Fund Grant from the Center For Craft
	American Museum of Ceramic Art