
Whale
<p>Carl Walter’s <em>Whale</em> 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.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1927
- Medium
- Glazed earthenware
- Dimensions
- 19.7 × 42.6 × 19.7 cm (7 3/4 × 16 3/4 × 7 3/4 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Carl Walters
Artist

Carl Walters was an American ceramicist and sculptor whose glazed earthenware vessels and figurative forms bridged craft and fine art traditions. Active from the early twentieth century through the 1950s, he developed a distinctive approach to ceramic surface and form that emphasized bold color and expressive modeling.
Full artist profile →More
More by Carl Walters
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Carl Walters
- Year
- 1927
- Medium
- Glazed earthenware
- Dimensions
- 19.7 × 42.6 × 19.7 cm (7 3/4 × 16 3/4 × 7 3/4 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1927-016278
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified
