Studio Glass In America

A unique exploration of the question, can art be fashioned out of glass? Analysis of the philosophical and circumstantial factors that reveal the early history of the movement and the clash of ambitions and power that marked the relationship between the worlds of so-called crafts and high art. 81 colour & 47 b/w illustrations

The American studio glass movement can be traced to 1962, when Harvey Littleton, a professor of ceramics at the University of Wisconsin, had a dream to alter molten glass into unique forms in a studio setting and teach his techniques. For the first time in its 3,500-year history, glass production, that had been limited to factory settings, moved to the artists' studios and became a part of an academic program in the fine arts. Since then, glass has become the fastest growing studio art medium throughout the world. This book takes us from the first workshop in a Toledo, Ohio garage, to reveal decade by decade the unprecedented growth of studio glass. Through high-quality, detailed images and stories, this retrospective of 50 top artists is a collector's dream. Noted art dealer Ferdinand Hampson offers a unique perspective on this exciting evolution.

This title features vessels, sculptures, and vitreographs (prints made from glass plates) by one of the founders of the American studio glass movement, Harvey K. Littleton, often referred to a the father of the studio glass movement whose development of a small furnace brought hot glassmaking into the studio and out of the factory.

"Glass can be decorative or utilitarian, and its forms often reflect technological innovations and social change. Drawing on an insightful selection from the Yale University Art Gallery and other collections at Yale, American Glass illuminates the vital and often intimate roles that glass has played in the nation's art and culture. Spectacularly illustrated, the publication showcases eighteenth-century mold-blown vessels, nineteenth-century pressed glass, innovative studio work, and luminous stained-glass windows by John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany, the latter reproduced as a lush gatefold. These are considered alongside beguiling objects that broaden our expectations of glass and speak to the centrality of the medium in American life, including one of the oldest complex microscopes in the United States, an early Edison light bulb, glass-plate photography, jewelry, and more. With an essay on the history of collecting American glass and discussions of each object that present new scholarship, this engaging book tells the long and rich history of glass in America--from prehistoric minerals to contemporary sculptures"--Dust jacket front flap.

The excitement of contemporary American studio glass, with works ranging from the monumental to the minute, is presented in Glass Today. Twenty-six important artists, including Dale Chihuly, Dan Dailey, Ginne Ruffner, Marvin Lipofsky and Sonja Blomdahl, are featured in this exhibition catalogue. These artists represent a vibrant cross section of a new and mature generation of American glass artists who work with glass as sculpture; they are concerned with issues of solids and voids, envelopes, layers, color veils and illusions of space. Their subject matter ranges from the abstract to the fantastic.

Fike uses the collection to discuss studio glass within the context of contemporary fine arts. Biographies of the fifty-seven are also included, as well as a bibliography on the studio glass movement.