Augusta Kaiser

• Name — Augusta Kaiser • Born — 16 January 1895 • Birthplace — Niederbrechen, German Empire • Died — 27 September 1932 • Place of death — Wiesbaden, Germany • Field — Sculpture, ceramic art

Augusta Theodora Priscilla Kaiser was the daughter of teacher Peter Josef Kaiser and Augusta Schneider. From 1906 her father worked in Wiesbaden, where Augusta graduated school. She graduated with top honors from the Kunstgewerbeschule in Mainz and continued her education at the Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe. In 1922 she met the painter Hedwig Marquardt who was working at the time as ceramics painter at the Großherzoglichen Majolika-Manufaktur Karlsruhe. As her partner she followed her in April 1924 to Kiel, where they both worked as artists for the Kieler Kunst-Keramik (KKK) until 31 March 1925. They worked as freelance artists in Biere near Magdeburg in their own "Workshop for Applied Art", which they had to close in 1927 due to financial reasons. Afterwards the couple lived in Hanover, where Marquardt was an art teacher. After a long disease she returned to her parents' house in Wiesbaden, where she died in 1932.

• Illustration — Kieler Kunst-Keramik AG, Elefantenreiter, 1924, height 27,3 cm, Design: Augusta Kaiser • Illustration — Kieler Kunst-Keramik AG, Meerreiter, 1924, Height 42 cm. Design: Augusta Kaiser Kaiser was, like Marquardt, one of the first artists of the KKK. She designed the majority of the fine ceramics, small figurines and vessels in the short time where she was associated with KKK, in addition to works for the construction department. All her designs are styled in the expressionist form language of the Art Deco. KKK participated in the Grassi fair in Leipzig in 1924 with art mostly by Kaiser and Marquardt. Kaisers design for the facade of the Städtische Milchhalle Hirte in Altona, Hamburg is remarkable, but the building was destroyed during the Second World War. Her designs for KKK were highly appreciated already in the contemporary literature, which lauded her as a talented artist.

• Kieler Stadtmuseum, Kiel (Gustl Kaiser) • Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (Gustl Kaiser) • British Museum, London (Augusta Kaiser)