Gather Newsletter.Indd

Spring/Summer 2006 “Glass of the Maharajahs” the opens May 19 Heineman Family Donates Contemporary Glass Collection Rare Colored Cut Glass in Gather “Splitting the Rainbow” C o r n i n g M u s e u m o f G l a s s DIRECTOR’S LETTER Museum News One of the pleasures of working at The Corning Museum of Glass is the fact that the Museum never stands still. We are ambitious, and Corning Incorporated and our other supporters allow us— within reason—to turn many of our dreams into reality. Online Database Details Glass Exhibitions Worldwide New Museum Publication and Video Available Contemporary glass is a vital part of our collection and exhibitions. A new online database, compiled and maintained by the Rakow We were thrilled, therefore, at the beginning of the year, to receive Research Library, offers web users the ability to search for past, A new publication from The the largest gift of contemporary glass in the Museum’s history. present and upcoming temporary glass exhibitions around the Corning Museum of Glass Photo by Frank J. Borkowski. world. The Worldwide Glass Exhibition Database can be found at explores the past 25 years of www.cmog.org/exhibitionsdatabase. contemporary glass, and a new Ben Heineman Sr. and his wife Natalie have spent more than 20 years building video produced by The Studio one of the most distinguished private collections of contemporary glass, and have “The Rakow’s mission is to collect, maintain and provide public introduces glass students to the collected with a consummate sense of what is best among the countless works access to all glass-related resources," says Diane Dolbashian, art of flameworking. Both items created by living artists. Imagine our delight, therefore, when the Heinemans chose head librarian at the Rakow Library. "And now we are very are available in the GlassMarket. the Museum to be the permanent home of their collection, which will come to us in pleased to offer worldwide exhibition information through an easy-to-access, searchable and interactive database." “25 Years of New Glass contribution to it,” Oldknow several installments between now and the end of 2007. You will find more Review” by Tina Oldknow, the writes in the introductory information on the Heineman Collection on pages 7 and 8. The database currently provides information about more than Museum’s curator of modern overview. 29,000 exhibitions in venues worldwide, based on information the glass, was published in Novem- ber 2005. Oldknow examined The second video in The We were thrilled, too, when a group of the Museum’s most generous supporters Rakow Library has received from other organizations since March Studio’s Foundations Series 1982. the 2,500 works in glass pub- (their names appear on page 14) enabled us to acquire a major installation by the lished during the first quar- also was recently released. Italian artist Lino Tagliapietra. By common consent, Tagliapietra is the world’s “An Introduction to Flamework- Users may conduct a general search of exhibitions using keywords ter-century of the Museum’s foremost glassblower, and the installation, Endeavor, is one of his masterpieces. publication New Glass Review ing with Emilio Santini” is a must or an advanced function that narrows choices by qualifiers such for all aspiring flameworkers. It is installed in the anteroom of the Sculpture Gallery. as institution name or show dates. Results are shown in an easy- (1980 to 2004), and chose 200 influential and memorable Santini, a native of Italy, is a to-read list, and each entry offers the details provided by the popular instructor of beginning Returning visitors are in for a surprise when they enter the Sculpture Gallery, where institutions hosting the exhibits. objects and installations to highlight in the book. and highly skilled students. In we display a selection from our permanent collection of contemporary glass this video, Santini demonstrates sculpture. In February, the exhibit was completely reinstalled. Pieces never A special feature allows users to add an exhibition to their The book is not about what the basics of both hollow ware Outlook calendar or create an online list of exhibitions that or who is best in glass. “It is and solid work, helping students previously displayed are now on view, and the gallery has never been more vibrant, interest them. In addition, the Library encourages organizations challenging, and full of remarkable works of art. about what I think has been to establish a firm foundation in to include their exhibitions by providing an online tool for significant in the field and who flameworking. submitting information. I think has made an important We not only collect and exhibit contemporary glass, but we encourage the appreciation of it in other ways. The Museum’s annual juried competition New Glass Review has just turned 25 and in the near future our teaching facility, The Audio Tours to Offer Self- “This fills some needs identi- day, providing visitors with Studio, will celebrate its 10th anniversary. Last year, we awarded the 20th Rakow Guided Exploration fied by the Museum such as a choice. Commission to Nicole Chesney (you can see the work she created in the Sculpture accommodating different Beginning this summer, Gallery) and soon we shall begin the selection process for the 21st commission. learning styles and allowing There will be two versions of Museum visitors will have the visitors to plan visits indepen- the audio tour offered this sum- option of touring the collection dent from scheduled in- mer: one for adults and one In addition to looking at glass, visitors to the Museum can watch demonstrations with the executive director person tour times,” notes for families with children 8–12 of how glass is made and they can try their hand at glassmaking in the Walk-in and curators. A new audio Amy Schwartz, deputy director years old. Both will be in Eng- Workshop. In fact, more than 20 percent of individual and family visitors made tour series launching in late of Education and The Studio. lish; the Museum plans to add May will feature curators de- “This provides an opportunity new languages in the future. A something there in 2005. To meet an anticipated increase in demand next summer, scribing 60 key objects in the we are expanding the facility. for the same quality experience nominal fee will be charged for Glass Collection and Sculpture all year round.” rental of the hand-held audio galleries. Audio tour users tour units. If you are fascinated by contemporary glass and glassmaking, our aim is to make also will be able to access During the busy summer and The Corning Museum of Glass indispensable! more in-depth information fall seasons, Museum Docents David Whitehouse highlights key about how some of these will still offer Hidden Treasures objects for the new audio tour. objects were made. tours at scheduled times each Photo by Maria Strinni Gill. 1 The Gather | Spring / Summer 2006 2 Exploring Cut Glass Furnishings of Indian Royalty The very idea that a chair could feature an original watercolor design glitter like a diamond, catch light like for the Crystal Palace by Joseph a colored gemstone, and still function Paxton (1850), drawn from the Rakow as seating must have astounded those Research Library of The Corning who first encountered glass furniture Museum of Glass. in the mid- to late-19th century. For much of the 19th century Osler Visitors to this year’s major summer even maintained a Calcutta showroom. exhibition will experience that same Baccarat followed that lead by open- sense of bedazzlement. “Glass of the ing a showroom in Bombay in 1896. Maharajahs: European Cut Glass Fur- nishings for Indian Royalty,” on Indian Tastes Not Shared view from May 19 to November 30, The maharajahs’ taste in glass furniture examines a little-known chapter of was not universally shared in Europe. design history, when European glass A reporter covering the 1878 Exposi- manufacturers tailored one-of-a-kind tion Universelle in Paris noted that and limited-production glass furniture one of Osler’s mammoth chandeliers, to the tastes of the wealthy Indian elite. while beautiful, was “… more fitted for the throne-room of some magnificent materials are drawn from the Corning Massive and Spectacular Glass Eastern despot than for anything else.” Museum and Rakow Library collec- Two European companies dominated And another commentator recounted tions; others are borrowed from Indian the Indian market during this period: that “considerable amusement is palaces, private homes and archival from France, the Cristalleries de experienced by French visitors and collections. Baccarat; and from the United foreigners at finding crystal used for Kingdom, F. & C. Osler of Birmingham. chairs and sofas—probably furniture One of the truly spectacular objects Design for a glass temple, Defries, 1864. intended for the proverbial glass in the “Glass of the Maharajahs,” Image provided by The National Archives, U.K. The opening of the 1851 Great Exhibi- house.” designed in 1889 by Baccarat, is a cut tion of the Works of Industry of All glass table of seeming perfection, its Book on Glass Furnishings Nations in the “Crystal Palace” in Exhibition Highlights clear crystal legs shaped to resemble A companion book to the exhibition, London prompted the development Among the highlights of “Glass of the the turnings of carved wood and its “European Glass Furnishings for of larger and larger glass furniture by Maharajahs” will be a unique 11-foot- top trimmed with classical detailing. Eastern Palaces,” by the curator of these companies, made possible by tall mirrored and intricately faceted Of the three of these tables that were this exhibition, Jane Shadel Spillman, new technologies that allowed the glass wall cabinet, on public view in the made, only two survive: one is in the details the production of glass furni- fashioning and annealing of large United States for the first time.

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