Thea Tewi: Designer, Sculptor and Artist

                                                          Thea Tewi: Sculptor and Lingerie Designer 

Thea Wittner was born in Berlin in 1902. She became interested in sculpture while in high school in Germany and later enrolled at the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. She received a degree from the Staatliche Kunstakademie in 1935. In 1938, Tewi, her Polish born husband, Charles Kalman Schlachet, and their son Peter fled Europe and came to the United States as Jewish Refugees from Nazi Germany. Thea finally gained American citizenship in 1944; at which time she took the surname Tewi.  

Thea was a sculptor known for her work in stone, particularly marble and onyx. Tewi started out working in metal, experimenting with what she described as “free forms,” but soon switched to carving abstract sculptures from stone. She studied with the sculptor Seymour Lipton in New York, who encouraged her to create forms based on her “impressions” rather than her observations of an object. Tewi divided her time between Maryland, New York, and Italy, creating smooth, abstract forms from marble and onyx.   

Tewi began a custom-made lingerie business and by 1945 was voted the best lingerie in the U.S. During the 1940s she was also a successful fashion designer who was proclaimed America's top lingerie designer in 1947.   As a lingerie designer, Thea Tewi was active in New York in the 1940s. Her brand, Tewi Lingerie Inc., was extremely successful, leading to Tewi winning a Neiman Marcus Fashion Award in 1945.  In this year, the Detroit Free Press was reporting on fashion trends and referred to Tewi's "naughty-nice lingerie" which featured "daring cuts" and racy appliqués.  Two of Thea Tewi garments were in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute: a silk nightgown called "Busting Out All Over" and an embroidered silk and lace slip called "Ripe Roses."     

In 1947, the Textile Colorist Journal, was reporting on Tewi's electric-blanket inspired nightgowns, and they noted that Thea had been named America's top lingerie designer. In 1950, Thea Tewi Lingerie merged with another leading company called Dutchess Underwear. This company offered a line called "Dutchess Individually Yours by Tewi." In 1950, Thea returned to sculpting. In the 1960s, although Tewi was now regarded and established as a sculptor, she was still remembered as having been a "leading high fashion lingerie designer." She resumed sculpting in 1950 following her career as a lingerie designer. Tewi started out working in metal, but switched to stone as her favorite material, particularly marble and onyx.

Thea continued studying throughout her life, attending the Sculpture Center between 1953 and 1956, The Art Students League from 1954 to 1955, and in 1955, alongside Seymour Lipton and Manolo Pascual, Thea went to The New School for Social Research. In 1970, she went to Pietrasanta, Italy to research lost-wax casting and bronze casting. 

Tewi frequently brought Jewish themes and motifs into her sculpture. She sculpted a work using the Hebrew alphabet as its basis. This sculpture won Thea the National Arts Club award for religious sculpture in 1966. Her stonework included an art deco style headstone for the grave of Frederick and Helen Serger in Maple Grove Cemetery, Queens, New York. She represented the United States at the 1969 Biennale production in Carrara, Italy.

Tewi spent much of her time exhibiting her sculptures more so than creating new works starting from the 1960s and lasting for many years. She was featured in solo shows in galleries and venues across the United States and Italy.  Thea participated in a number of exhibitions held across America and in Paris and Italy. Examples of Thea’s sculptures were held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum,] the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Chrysler Museum of Art, and many other institutions. Her sculptures are also owned by The Bank of Tokyo, Citicorp, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and Pfizer.

Tewi received many prizes and awards including a Special Award for Outstanding Merit in Craftsmanship from the Artists-Craftsmen New York in 1967; a Medal of Honor and First Prize for Sculpture from the National Association of Women Artists in 1969; and she won First Prize for Sculpture from the American Society of Contemporary Artists in 1971. In 1975 and 1979, she won first prizes at two different exhibitions at the National Arts Club.

Tewi was previously the President of the Sculptors League and she was an honorary President of the League of Present-Day Artists. She was also a member of the American Society of Contemporary Artists, the Artists-Craftsmen New York. She served as chair of the Sculpture Jury of the National Association of Women Artists (1973), and from 1969 to 1972, Thea chaired the latter group's Sculpture Jury of the National Association of Women Artists (1973) and she was the President of the Sculptors League (1971–1991).

She resumed sculpting in 1950 following her career as a lingerie designer. Tewi worked in various media, with an emphasis on marble. She frequently used Jewish subjects and in 1966 won the National Arts Club award for religious sculpture for a work which referred to the forms and shapes of the Hebrew alphabet.

Tewi has several well-known sculptures.  Three Figures (1965) is a white marble sculpture depicting three robed and hooded figures of indeterminate gender whose bodies remain fused by the stone. This work has an elegance with it’s tall black plinth which elevates the work to almost eye-level. Another marble work of 1965, The Gordian, suggests a knot with its depiction of form composed of convolutions and interlacing.  Her Cactus Couple (1990), a representation of two cactus plants hewn out of green serpentine marble, was located on the roof of the Arsenal in Central Park, New York.

 Tewi's work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Museum of Modern Art, Paris, the National Academy of Design, the National Arts Club, and New York University. Examples of her work are in the collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Kew Gardens, New York, the National Museum of American Art, and the Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame University, among other places.

Tewi's work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Museum of Modern Art, Paris, the National Academy of Design, the National Arts Club, and New York University. Examples of her work are in the collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Kew Gardens, New York, the National Museum of American Art, and the Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame University, among other places.

Thea Tewi died in Queens, New York on July 5, 1999 at the age of 97.  She was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in New York.

~Blog by Renee Meyers