Wright Auction

Budapest-born Eugene Deutch moved to Chicago in 1927 and quickly immersed himself in the thriving Arts and Crafts community. He enrolled in classes at the Art Institute and opened his first studio on Kilbourn Street in 1934. A year later, Deutch would move the production to a small garage off an alleyway at 932 North LaSalle Street, establishing a workshop where he would produce an impressive number of ceramic works and sculpture. In charge of the entire production process, Deutch’s output expressed both technical mastery and a distinct, tactile aesthetic. Rejecting the blandness that came from mass-production, Deutch celebrated what he called the “modest simplicity of clay” and embraced variation and imperfections. His forms are robust yet graceful, glazed with a painter’s flair and shaped with a sculptor’s hand. The present collection is an exceptional example of Deutch’s technical virtuosity and creative spirit—each vessel a celebration of tradition imbued with a distinctly Modern edge.