More about Hitler Idaho
Sr. Editor
It may not be a masterpiece by one of history’s great artists, but we just had to give you all the 411 on this Charles Krafft standout from the de Young’s ceramics collection.
I don’t know about the “Idaho” painted at the base, but who has time to play the state game when you have the führer’s soulless white eyes spooking you over your afternoon tea. I’m sure when Adolf envisioned his legacy in that nasty little mind of his, he never thought hot water pouring out the side of his visage would be served with biscuits.
The artist Charles Krafft is known for coining the term “disasterware” to describe his ceramic pieces that commemorate history’s great tragedies. From the series of china plates that depict events like the Hindenberg crash or the atom bomb, to Charles Manson mugs and an Amy Winehouse kettle, it was always assumed that the guy just had a weirdly ironic, albeit very dark sense of humor. But there may actually be more to his tribute to one of the most horrific dictators the world has ever seen…
Prepare to be scandalized: in 2013 a journalist from online publication The Stranger outed Krafft for posting on “White Nationlist” (aka super racist, neo-nazi type) forums. Krafft was also quoted as denying the events of the holocaust. So what the art world assumed was commentary on society ills and the way we memorialize them, was actually a teapot-shaped portrait of someone he admired? Everyone was, and is, horrified and no doubt embarassed by the prospect. The curator at the de Young told the reporter that if the Jewish collector who bought and subsequently donated the piece knew Krafft’s position, he would have smashed it. This sparked a debate on how much the artist's intent matters within a work of art. I think that point is a kind of moot when the artist turns out to be a Nazi sympathizer, but that's just like, my opinion, man.
Need more teapot Hitler? In another bizarre yet unrelated story, this teapot on a billboard in San Diego sold out of department store JC Penney's and blew up the internet for resembling his infamous silhouette. Hint: the cap is his mustache.