Art glass
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Definitions of Art Glass can be as complex and contentious as definitions of what constitutes "Art" and will inevitably include many refinements and exceptions. On the one hand "Art Glass" is not quite of the size, uniqueness and scope to be considered as "Art" but on the other, was designed or has come to be appreciated more for its decorative excellence, artistic merit or design distinctiveness than for any possible or originally intended use.
"Art Glass" has been almost exclusively intended to decorate the home and was historically bought by those who could not afford to commission individual work. However this last distinction today is becoming moot as glass artists strive to produce works of ever increasing distinction whether commissioned or not.
At its broadest level "Art Glass" can most easily be defined in opposition to glass for utilitarian purposes where the usability is more important than artistic design. So that means Glassware, for dining, drinking and cooking in the home and for the catering & hospitality industries as well as glass packaging, scientific, industrial and architectural glass.
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Terminology
Art glass manufacturing techniques
There are two main techniques used to produce "Art glass" : moulding or pressing & Glassblowing; but there are many others. Some techniques sound very similar but have very important distinctions.
Moulded glass
"Moulded Glass" also known by collectors as Pressed Glass is most often made by machine but can be done by hand although in practise, much less often.
Blown glass
Glassblowing is historically the most used technique in "Art Glass" and is still favoured by most of today's Studio glass artists. This is because of its intimacy with the material, and almost infinite opportunity for creativity and variation at almost every stage of the process. "Blown Glass" refers only to individually hand-made items but can include the use of moulds for shaping, ribbing & spiking to produce decorative bubbles. Not all blown glass is "Art Glass". One major exception is scientific glassware which is often blown to order, in a studio.
'blow and blow' & 'press and blow' methods
Similar sounding terms: "blow and blow" & "press and blow" methods are very different mechanized, commercial techniques used for glass packaging such as bottles and containers for food, toiletries and cosmetics.
Contemporary art glass
Contemporary Art Glass is a very important part of "Art Glass". As a small scale craft based industry it survives on the patronage those with the means to buy, and supports artists who struggle to make a living using ever more expensive power and materials, and time consuming, labour intensive techniques which have changed little over centuries.
However, those involved in the "Contemporary Art Glass" scene often equate their passion to "Art Glass" as a whole. This is an understandable mistake but glass made by hand in small studios has its own appellation, widely known and used since the late 1960s as studio glass.
Historical perspective
Collectors, researchers, dealers, curators and appraisers however see "Art Glass" through a much wider, more historical perspective. They have traditionally included pieces made using some degree of division of labour, where a number of specialised workers were used in the different processes involved in making each piece, in settings more akin to a factory than a studio.
Factory art glass
The qualifier factor glass has come into use only in recent years in relation to studio glass. Most antique art glass was made in factories particularly in England, USA and Bohemia where items were made to a standard or "pattern". This would seem contrary to art glass as distinctive and showing individual skill. However, the importance of decoration in the Victorian era in particular meant that the much of the artistry lay with the decorator. Any assumption today that factory made items were necessarily made by machine was not generally so. Up to the end of the 1930's the majority of processes involved in making decorative art glass were performed by hand.
Factory differentiation and distinctiveness
Factories got around the problem of too much "sameness" in their production in various ways. Firstly, they would frequently change designs according to demand. This was especially so in the export dependant factories of Bohemia, where the salesmen or "journeymen" would report sales trends back to the factory each trip. Secondly, the decoration, often done by contracted "piece" workers <ref>"Collectible Bohemian Glass 1915-1945" Robert Truitt</ref> was often a variation on a theme for mid and lower market items. Such was the skill of these sub-contractors that a reasonable quality standard was generally maintained. Finally a high degree of differentiation could be gained from the multiplication of shapes, colours and decorative designs so that many different combinations of these could be obtained.
Concurrently, from the same factories, came distinctive, artistic models, produced in more limited quantities for the upper market consumer. These were likely to be decorated in-house, where decorators could work more closely with designers and management. Some designs were adapted from those of students at specialist glass colleges or Fachschule at Haida and Steinschönau <ref>“Das Glas im Raum Haida und Steinschönau” Carolus Hartmann ISBN 3-00-012917-0</ref> where glass design was considered as important a part of the curriculum as technique.
Usable art glass
Many items of art glass were originally intended to have a use. Often that use has ceased to be relevant in the modern world but even if that's not the case, in the Victorian era and for some decades beyond, useful items were often decorated to a such a high degree that we can now appreciate them for their artistic or design merits. In some cases it's shocking to the modern mind that such delicate, frivolous and impractical items could be used at all.
Some "Art glass" retains its original purpose but has come to be appreciated more for its "art" than for its use. Collectors of antique perfume bottles for example tend to display their items empty. As Glass packaging these bottles would originally have been used and as such would not ordinarily come under "Art Glass". Lalique's Art Nouveau & Art Deco designs and those of Joseph Hoffman also in the Art Deco era have now come to be appreciated as "Art Glass" due to their stylish and highly original decorative designs. Contemporary and older bottles which have limited design style style or decoration but may be collectable should remain under the heading of "Glass Collectibles".
Moulded art glass
In the late 1970's a major shift in the definition of what constituted "Art Glass" came with the publication of the book "Glass - Art Nouveau to Art Deco" by Victor Arwas in 1977. Following that there was a growing recognition that moulded, mass-produced, glass with little or no decoration, but of high artistic and fabrication quality such as that produced by Lalique, should be considered as "Art Glass". Until that time only blown glass was considered. In the post WWII period most types of moulded glass, especially if in clear glass, with minimal, functional design are usually considered Glassware. In making a judgement one would need to take into account the complexity and social relevance of the design, in relation to its era and the artistic interpretation of the mould maker. However, in his ground-breaking work "Sklo Union Art before Industry: 20th Century Czech Pressed Glass" Marcus Newhall places the mass-produced Czech Pressed Glass made by the multi-factory nationalised combine Sklo Union, in the 1950s-'70s, in its historical and social context. Through this analysis he makes a convincing case for this innovatively designed "glass for everyday use", as "art for the masses". As such, modest in cost and intent as they may be, one would have to include these daring modern and modernist designs as "Art Glass".
Other art glass forming techniques
Hot worked glass
Hot working is the manipulation of the glass, with tools such as pincers and shears, to shape it while the glass is in it's plastic state. The glass maybe pulled, pinch, cut or cropped and swung. It is usually used in conjunction with Glassblowing.
Kiln cast
Art glass decorating techniques
Colour: Glass colours Texture: Frosting, satinizing, glue-chip, overshot, sandblasting Surfaces: Overlays, Cameo, Cut-back, Cutting Decor: Painted& Enamelled glass, Engraving
Art glass does not include
Architectural glass
Stained glass
Glassware
Glass art
Refined glassware
Upmarket refined glassware, usually "crystal" is refined both in terms of the high quality and purity of the metal (molten glass mixture) as well as in the decorative techniques used, most often cutting and gilding. Both have been and continue to be used as part of the decoration of many indisputable examples of art glass. The distinction lies in how they are used. Such glassware can be confused with art glass because of the lavish amount and style of decoration
Cut glass
There is no disputing the skill traditionally required to produce cut crystal but these days many of the processes as well as some or all of the cutting is automated. A few designs show artistic flair but most tend to be regular, geometric and repetitious with little or no variation in execution. Indeed, the design can be considered as a "pattern" to be replicated as exactly as possible, the main purpose of which is to accentuate the refractive qualities or "sparkle" of the crystal, an aesthetic consideration certainly but generally, not artistic.
The vast majority of cut glass items were primarily intended for use and most, like drinking glasses, retain their original function. Vases and bowls, items which often form the "canvas" for "Art Glass", if in cut crystal are far more likely to be in daily use and are therefore unequivocally Glassware rather than "Art Glass".
Hobby art glass
Practitioners of small scale glassmaking and decorating as a hobby, consider their work as "art" but professional glass artists and collectors do not, that is until such time that the person is sufficiently accomplished and widely recognised. It would be extremely unusual for this to happen as an amateur and more likely that the person would turn "pro" long before recognition. Hence in general, hobby glass is not considered as "Art Glass". The techniques suitable for hobby glass work are: lampworking; slumping & fusing; bead making; glass painting; engraving & stained glass making. There are also professional practitioners using these techniques.
Exceptions
Art cut
A clear exception could be made for those highly distinctive cut crystal designs, which were produced in relatively small or limited quantities by named designers of note. Examples here would be the designs of Keith Murray for Steven & Williams and Clyne Farquharson for John Walsh Walsh. A relatively new term is coming into use for this genre: "Art Cut" <ref>"British 'Art' Cut Glass 1920-1970" exhibition catalogue Nigel Benson and Jeanette Hayhurst</ref>
See also
