Biography
Naum Slutzky (Kyiv 1894 - 1965 Stevenage, Hertfortshire)
Naum Slutzky - from jewellery to luminaire design
The Slutzky family emigrated from Kiev to Vienna in 1905, where the young Nachman Julius completed an apprenticeship as a goldsmith from 1908-12. His father Gilel had already been an employee of Peter Carl Fabergé. In 1912/13 he worked as a goldsmith at the Wiener Werkstätte. Further training at the Imperial and Royal Technical College and the Academy of Fine Arts. Technical College and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna followed, while he also received lessons at the art school of Johannes Itten. With Itten, Slutzky, as well as other students, moved to the Bauhaus Weimar when Walter Gropius called him there in 1919 to act as assistant master craftsman for silversmithing and goldsmithing; Slutzky himself was hired as assistant master craftsman of the metal department (goldsmithing and chasing), and in 1921, after briefly leaving, he was given his own workshop as 'Jungmeister'. The master craftsman's certificate was handed over to him in 1922. In 1924, Slutzky left the Bauhaus for good to become self-employed. From 1927 to 1933, he worked mainly as an interior designer, lighting designer and goldsmith in Hamburg. He created furnishings for public buildings, for example a cinema foyer and the new synagogue. After the NSDAP came to power, he emigrated to London in 1933, where he held several teaching posts until 1940. After the Second World War, he was able to resume teaching, among others at the Royal College of Art, London and the Royal College of Arts and Crafts in Birmingham. He died of a heart attack in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in 1965.
In March 1928 and 1930 he took part in the exhibition of the Hamburg Secession and, also as a member of the Deutscher Werkbund in 1930, in the exhibition at the Société des Artistes décorateurs in the Grand Palais, Paris. In 1961 his objects were presented in Goldsmith's Hall, London and in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg.
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