Naum Slutzky (1894-1965)

Naum Slutzky (1894-1965)

Invited by Walter Gropius, Slutzky became the master goldsmith at the Bauhaus in Berlin between 1919-1923. He became a freelance designer in Hamburg from 1927 to 1933. In 1933 he fled to England and became a jewellery teacher at the progressive Dartington Hall in Devon. After the war the worked at The Central School of Art in London and between 1950-1957 at the Royal Collage of Art, London. He moved to Birmingham as head of industrial design at Birmingham University until 1964. His final year was spent at Ravensbourne Collage, Bromley as head of three dimensional design.  

His work is extremely rare, it is always handmade, experimental and not put into production. There are examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin. Slutzky sold five pieces to the Bauhaus archive just before he died in 1965.

Provenance, The pieces by Naum Slutzky that we have, come directly from his workshop in 1965 and then by descent to the previous owner, some pieces are illustrated in Monika Rudolph's biography of Slutzky, others are marked with his makers mark.