Hultberg working on Johnson Together and Little Johnson for Objects: USA, 1968-9. Courtesy of Moderne Gallery and the Estate of Paul Hultberg.
The term “artist-craftsman,” much in circulation in the 1960s, was uniquely applicable to the enamelist Paul Hultberg.¹ Trained originally as a painter and printmaker, he approached his craft essentially as flat abstraction. His attraction to enamel was not so much because of its sculptural potential (as, for example, was the case with June Schwarcz), but its utility for public murals and commercial tableware—allowing him to realize his personal goal of making “art for all.” Yet Hultberg was well connected in the studio craft scene. In the 1950s, he shared a studio with ceramist Ka Kwong Hui, and collaborated on textiles with the weaver Jack Lenor Larsen.
By the time of Objects: USA, Hultberg was well established as a public artist, making enamel murals for hotels and corporate buildings, including a monumental commission for the aluminum giant Alcoa, at the Pan Am Building in New York City. His sensitivity to clientele is seen in his contribution to Objects: USA: a multipanel composition that pays explicit homage to the Johnson family, the exhibition’s patrons. As its name implies, the work shown here, Little Johnson, is a close cognate made concurrently.
¹ Information on Paul Hultberg is drawn from a forthcoming article for Metalsmith magazine by design scholar Alan Rosenberg.
Little Johnson enameled mural. Designed and made by Paul Hultberg, USA, 1969.
48” L x 36” W
121.9cm L x 91.4cm W
SM7975
Courtesy of the Estate of Paul Hultberg and Moderne Gallery