Dan Molyneux

Paul Bogatay is known for primarily slab built animal and vessel sculptural forms and for his dinnerware designs. Early in his career, Bogatay formed part of a group of artists using ceramics as a serious sculptural medium. In his sculpture, Bogatay emphasized the natural beauty of clay.

In the early 1930s, Bogatay was selected as a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow to design dinnerware prototypes made available at no cost to manufacturers to mass-produce inexpensive well designed dinnerware for everyday use in the American home. Due tothe great depression production was limited, however, this work would influence many subsequent dinnerware designs in America. During the period of his Rockefeller Fellowship, Bogatay was supervised by Arthur E. Baggs and Richard F. Bach of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

For three decades, Bogatay taught ceramics and design at Ohio State University. A close pupil and mentee of Arthur Baggs, Bogatay?s work represents a trasitionboth from commercial art potteries and American Art Pottery to American Studio Pottery and Ceramics.