The Work Of Harvey K Littleton In Relation To The Studio Glass Movement

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.

In 1961 and 1962 artist Harvey K. Littleton, a professor of fine arts at the University of Wisconsin and son of the director of research at the Corning Glass Works, held a series of informal workshops to explore the art of hot glassmaking in a studio setting. Until then, almost without exception, glass objects had been blown or molded in an industrial context--that is, they were factory made. In the 1870s, the French designer Emile Gall� had made a radical change in the prevailing attitude toward glass as art by being the first modern artist to sign his work, just as painters and sculptors did. Nevertheless, art glass continued to be blown in factories, such as Orrefors in Sweden, Tiffany in the United States, and Lalique in France. In the 1960s, Littleton became convinced, after visiting a few European glassmakers working alone, that an artist could maintain a complete glassmaking facility within a studio; thanks to his determination and the creation of a low-melting glass formula by artist Dominick Labino, the studio glass movement was born. Progress was so swift that when, a decade later, The Metropolitan Museum of Art established a department devoted to the arts of the twentieth century, its curators sought out not only the innovative glass art of Harvey Littleton and Dominick Labino, but also the work of such emerging artists as Dale Chihuly, Michael Glancy, and Jon Kuhn. Glass art had arrived. During the 1970s, in both Europe and the United States, the liberal political and social climate encouraged a new freedom in artistic expression. Artists who wanted to work in the medium of glass could take courses in colleges and universities and even graduate with a degree in glassmaking. Dale Chihuly, whose masterworks in glass and remarkable enthusiasm helped establish glass in the art world, founded the Pilchuck School near Seattle, devoted solely to the making of glass art and to teaching the various techniques available to artists. Experiments in abstract sculpture gave way to narrative works and assemblages that often conveyed a personal message. Erwin Eisch, working in Bavaria, engraved and painted his glass portrait heads of Picasso and Buddha with images expressing the horrors of war. Ginny Ruffner explored the women's liberation movement and the history of art through her lamp-worked sculptures. Artists no longer had to rely on the glass industry to create unique masterpieces of glass art. Thomas Patti's brilliant experiments with fused plate glass, Howard Ben Tr�'s heroic work in large-scale molded-glass sculpture, Mary Shaffer's sensuous slumped glass and metalwork, and William Morris's virtuoso forms with their evocation of the past attest to the virtually limitless opportunities now available to studio artists. (This title was originally published in 1995/96.)

"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.

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

This first-ever encyclopedia of the Midwest seeks to embrace this large and diverse area, to give it voice, and help define its distinctive character. Organized by topic, it encourages readers to reflect upon the region as a whole. Each section moves from the general to the specific, covering broad themes in longer introductory essays, filling in the details in the shorter entries that follow. There are portraits of each of the region's twelve states, followed by entries on society and culture, community and social life, economy and technology, and public life. The book offers a wealth of information about the region's surprising ethnic diversity -- a vast array of foods, languages, styles, religions, and customs -- plus well-informed essays on the region's history, culture and values, and conflicts. A site of ideas and innovations, reforms and revivals, and social and physical extremes, the Midwest emerges as a place of great complexity, signal importance, and continual fascination.

Illustrated with 200 stunning photographs and encompassing objects from furniture and ceramics to jewelry and metal, this definitive work from Jo Lauria and Steve Fenton showcases some of the greatest pieces of American crafts of the last two centuries. Potter Craft