Zsolnay, Vilmos (1828 - 1900)

One of the outstanding figures of ceramic art in Hungary. He studied commerce in the Politechnisches Institut in Vienna. In 1863 he joined his brother in managing a small workshop which produced stoneware vessels and terracotta. In 1865 he became the owner. By the end of the 19th century the small workshop, which was founded in 1852, had become the largest ceramics company in the Austria- Hungary. Through Zsolnay’s versatile talents, relentless experimentation and keen taste, the firm became, artistically and technologically, one of the world’s leading ceramics factories. Although he rarely undertook the manual execution of ceramic objects (he occasionally did so at the beginning of the 1870s), his technological inventions (which followed historic examples and still competed with the most modem trends of his time) and his direct and indirect supervision of the creative work in his company made Vilmos Zsolnay a leading ceramist of his time.