Karl Martz papers, 1949-1992
A Guide to his Papers at the Indiana University Archives
Finding aid prepared by Carrie Schwier.
Summary Information
Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives
Creator
Martz, Karl, 1912-1997.
TitleKarl Martz papers, 1949-1992
Collection No.
C360
Extent
1.8 cubic feet (3 boxes)
Language
Materials are in English
Abstract
World-renowned as a glaze chemist and
ceramist, Karl Martz joined the faculty of the new School of Fine Arts at Indiana
University in 1945, where he remained until 1977. This collection consists of
correspondence, exhibition and teaching material, and most prominently, notebooks
compiled by Martz relating to the chemistry of ceramics.
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research. Advance notice required.
Biographical Note
Born in Columbus, Ohio, on June 24, 1912, Karl Martz and his family moved to
Bloomington, IN, where he graduated from Bloomington High School in 1929. He then
attended Indiana University, earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1933. He
went on to combine his dual interests in art and science through the study of
ceramics in graduate school at The Ohio State University in the mid 1930s, studying
under well-known ceramicists such as Edgar Littlefield, Arthur Baggs, and Carleton
Atherton. Martz began his professional career in 1934, working as an apprentice at
the Brown County Potter. After marrying Becky Brown in 1935, he established his own
studio and shop in Nashville, Indiana.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Martz was employed by the Armour
Foundation in Chicago, Illinois, where he conducted defense industry research. In
the evenings he taught ceramics classes at the Institute of Design under the
direction of Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, founder of the Bauhaus. Upon the close of the war in
1945, Martz returned to Bloomington and was hired to head the ceramics program in
the new Indiana University School of Fine Arts directed by Henry Hope. During his
celebrated 32 year career, his courses not only covered the technical application of
ceramics, but also the history of ceramics. He spent sabbaticals in Kyoto and
Machiko, Japan, and held the Bingham Professorship at the University of Louisville
for the spring term of 1975. In addition to teaching, he participated in several
workshops and symposia, and produced several educational films demonstrating the
techniques of pottery making. One of these was recognized by the Cleveland film
festival, and another was used by the U.S. State Department as a teaching tool. In
1989 Governor Robert D. Orr named Martz a "Distinguished
Hoosier" and in 1992 he was inducted into the prestigious American Craft
Council College of Fellows in recognition of his excellence in craftsmanship and
commitment to the crafts movement.
Martz’s work was included in exhibitions across the country and internationally, and
today his ceramics are included in the permanent collection of numerous
institutions, including the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary
Craft in New York, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., the Walker Art
Center in Minneapolis, and the Indiana University Art Museum. The IU Art Museum
honored Martz with a major retrospective of his work in 1977.
Karl Martz retired from the Indiana University faculty in May 1977 with the rank of
Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts. He died on May 27, 1997 at the age of 84.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into a single series: Subject files.
Scope and Content Note
The Karl Martz papers are organized into a single series: Subject files, 1949-1992.
This series includes general teaching materials relating to seminars on glaze and
ceramic history, correspondence and other materials relating to exhibitions, and
some biographical material, including a lengthy biography written by Theodore Bowie,
IU professor of fine arts. The majority of the collection consists of notebooks
compiled by Martz relating to the chemical components of various ceramics glazes.
Types of materials in these notebooks include chemistry tables, equations, and
related notes and articles.
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Indexing Terms
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The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
IUCAT, the IU Libraries'
online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by
searching the catalog using these terms.
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Separated Material
Six photographs and 6 negatives removed and transferred to Photographs
collection.
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Accession Information: 2007/049
Usage RestrictionsThe donor(s) of this collection have not transferred their copyrights for the materials to the Trustees of Indiana University.
For more information, please contact the Indiana University Archives staff.
The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for
non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility
for the determination of the copyright status of these materials rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials.
Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these
materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations.
Digital reproductions of archival materials from the Indiana University Archives are made available for noncommercial educational
and research purposes only. If you are the copyright holder for any of the digitized materials and have questions about its
inclusion on our site, please contact the Indiana University Archivist.
Preferred Citation
[Item], Karl Martz papers, Collection C360, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.
Provenance
Given to IU Fine Arts Librarian B.J. Irvine by Prof. Martz’s wife, Becky.
Transferred to the Archives in 2007.
Processing InformationProcessed by Carrie Schwier.
Completed in 2009
Container List
Series:
Box 1
Subject files,1949-1992,
undated
American Craft Council Fellow award certificate, 1992
ART503 University of Louisville – Some Ceramic History and Mostly
Records of Glaze Class, undated
BFA/ Glaze Seminar, 1982,
undated
Ceramics: A General Outline, undated
Correspondence, 1956-1968
Exhibition Materials, 1960-1983,
undated
Glaze Testing Project, 1968
Glaze Workshop, 1975,
undated
Karl Martz biography written by Theodore Bowie, undated
Miscellaneous other biographical materials, 1952-1980
Notebooks,
(1) Batch to Unity, undated
(2) Unity to Batch, undated
(3) Basic, 1972-1977,
undated
(4) Introduction to Glazes, undated
(5) Bodies I, 1971,
undated
(6) Bodies II, undated
(7) Glaze Recipes I, 1968-1969,
undated
(8) Cone 7 Charts I, undated
(9) Cone 7 Charts II, undated
(10) Calculation Data, 1957-1977,
undated
(11) Glaze Data, 1969-1973,
undated
(12) Glaze Recipes II, 1957-1973,
undated
(14) Collected Data, undated
(15) Collected Recipes III, 1973,
undated
(16) Collected Data IV, 1970-1972,
undated
(17) Toxicology, 1972-1984,
undated
(18) Firing – Kilns, 1959-1978,
undated
Box 2
(19) Salt Data, 1949,
undated
(20) Collected Data V, undated
(26) Most Cone 7 Recipes, undated
Collected Recipes, undated
Cone 3 Charts I, undated
Cone 4 Charts I, undated
Frit Charts, undated
RIBS, undated
Soluble Salts/ Raw Material Stains, undated
(6 photographs and 6 negatives in envelope "Fusibility Prints" removed)
Various Calculations, undated
Untitled, undated notebook
Box 3
3 untitled, undated notebooks
(5 folders)
Report: Studying the Art of Pottery in Japan by Karl Martz,
1964
Undergraduate Glaze lectures, 1976,
undated
