Description
Carl Walter’s Whale was inspired by the artist’s interest in the arresting blue color of many Egyptian ceramics. The artist recalled, “I just couldn’t get that blue out of my head. I dreamed about it, talked about it, and finally I set out to discover how I could reproduce it.” After years of research and experimentation, Walters landed on a formula and firing technique that satisfied him, using it to create a wild menagerie of animals including this lively whale. Here, Walters used the vibrant glaze as the background to dense aquatic surface decoration, a reference to the leviathan’s oceanic home.
Provenance
Accession Number
263362
Medium
Glazed earthenware
Dimensions
19.7 × 42.6 × 19.7 cm (7 3/4 × 16 3/4 × 7 3/4 in.)
Classification
american arts
Credit Line
Jane and Morris Weeden and Wesley M. Dixon Jr. endowment funds; Arts of the Americas Discretionary Fund
