MARIANNA VON ALLESCH (1886 - 1972) was a German artist known for her paintings, ceramics, and glass work. Von Allesch trained under Bruno Paul and Adelbert Niemeyer at the Royal Academy of Arts with a focus on painting, arts and crafts, as well as textile design. She was particularly taken by the art of glass blowing and ceramics in the years following university. After marrying Gustav Johannes von Allesch, a psychologist from a noble line, she set up a boutique called The Blue House in Berlin, where she sold her embroidery, textiles and glass sculptures throughout the 1920s.

In 1928, after a divorce from her nobleman husband, von Allesch decided to leave Germany and emigrate to the United States. She became known for her avant-garde asymmetrical ceramic pieces that were often monumental in size and wired as table lamps, as well as her ceramic bowls, ashtrays, and large-scale ceramic wall reliefs/murals. She eventually became the glass designer for Kensington Crystal Co. and designed a successful furniture line for Pulaski Modern Furniture. By the late 1940’s, she had established herself as a formidable creative force that was as admired by curators and fellow artists as she was by interior designers and collectors.

In 1956, von Allesch was commissioned to produce the lamps for the lobby and 400 rooms of the newly built Americana Hotel in Bal Harbor, Miami, designed by architect Morris Lapidus. The hotel was later renamed Sheraton Bal Harbor Miami in 1980.

The works of von Allesch were shown in exhibitions and museums across Europe and the USA.The Princeton University Art Museum in Princeton and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York have also acquired some of their works for their private collections.

(Image Credit + Source: Design Addict)