Margaret Marks was born in Cologne, Germany on 10 August 1899 and studied as a ceramicist under Johannes Itten at the Bauhaus, before going on to establish a highly successful pottery factory with her first husband, Gustav Loebenstein, in 1923, from which her progressive designs were exported to prestigious clients including Heal's and Liberty in England. After her husband's death in 1928, Marks continued running the factory until 1934, when the Nazis forced her to sell it, far below its value, to a member of the party. Marks left for Britain in 1936, helped by her connections to Ambrose Heal's export manager. Initially, she worked for Minton Pottery, among others, where she continued to produce her own radical, avant-garde designs but was unable to recapture her earlier success with a more conservative British audience. Marks continued her creative career concentrating on painting, drawing and lithography, although she remains best-known for her ceramics. Margaret Marks died in London, England on 11 November 1990.
ZBIÓRKI PUBLICZNE
- Aberystwyth University
- Bauhaus Archiv, Berlin
- British Museum
- Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Ceramic Museum, Berlin
- Hastings Museum and Art Gallery
- Jewish Museum, Berlin
- Kirkland Museum, Denver
- Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee
- National Museum of Wales
- Potteries Museum and Art Gallery
- Royal Festival Hall
- Victoria & Albert Museum, London
- York Art Gallery
ORGANIZACJE POWIĄZANE
- Bauhaus, Weimar (student)
- Burslem School of Art (teacher)
- Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (student)
- Grete Pottery (founder)
- Hael Workshops (co-founder)
- Minton Pottery (employee)
WYBRANE WYSTAWY
- Interstices: Discovering the Ben Uri Collection – Selected by René Gimpel, Ben Uri Gallery (2020)
- Grete Marks: An Intimate Portrait, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (2019)
- Two Cologne-born Artists at the Bauhaus, Makk Art and Design, Cologne (2019)
- Finchleystrasse: German Artists in Exile in Great Britain and Beyond 1933–45, Ben Uri Gallery & Museum at the German Embassy, London (2018)
- Refugees: The Lives of Others, Ben Uri Gallery, London (2017)
- Shaping Ceramics: From Lucie Rie to Edmund de Waal, Jewish Museum, London (2016)
- MoMoWo 100 Works in 100 Years – European Women in Architecture & Design 1918–2018, University of Oviedo, Spain and touring (2016)
- Grete Marks: When Modern Was Degenerate, Milwaukee Art Museum (2016)
- Tonalities: Jewish Women Ceramicists from Germany after 1933, Jewish Museum, Berlin (2013–14)
- Ceramics Museum Berlin: Haël-Keramik 1923–33 (2012)
- Summer in the City: Contemporary Responses, Ben Uri Art Gallery, London (2011)
- Forced Journeys: Artists in Exile in Britain c. 1933–45, Ben Uri Gallery and touring (2008)
- Margarete Marks and Pamina Liebert-Mahrenholz, Boundary Gallery, London (2008)
- Margarete Marks, Hael Pottery, Velten (2006)
- Radical and Modest: Work, Leisure and the Everyday, Ben Uri Gallery (2005)
- Influential Europeans, Crafts Council, London (1992)
- Margarete Marks, Ben Uri Art Gallery, London (1979)
- Margarete Marks – Mosaics, Paintings, Drawings, Ben Ben Uri Art Gallery, London (1960)
- Pictures for the Home, Ben Uri Art Gallery, London (1960)
- Annual Exhibition, Ben Uri Art Gallery, London (1958)
- Margarete Marks, Roland, Browse & Delbanco, London (1956)
- Margarete Marks, Redfern Gallery, London (1954)
- Autumn Exhibition of Paintings, Sculptures and Drawings by Contemporary Jewish Artists, Ben Uri Art Gallery, London (1951)
- Arts and Crafts (Seasonal Gifts) Bazaar, Ben Uri Art Gallery, London (1950)
- Margarete Marks, Bloomsbury Gallery, London (1938)
- Twentieth Century German Art, New Burlington Galleries, London (1938)
- Burslem School of Art, Burslem (1937)
