Carder: His Art and Science Stefani Ellis & John Parker Turner Museum of Glass, University of Sheffield, U.K. Frederic Carder was an influen al glass, which allowed him to 20th century glass ar st, who co- experiment with colours and founded Steuben Glass Works in techniques. Together with his 1903. During his 30 years at ar s c capabili es, this allowed Steuben he designed glassware in him to create pieces of ar s c over 7000 styles and 140 colours. glassware which were novel to These pieces are admired for the industry of that me. their diversity of colour, graceful He received an SGT honorary forms and quality of technique. fellowship (1939) for outstanding Carder was responsible for contribu ons to glass design. innova ve ar s c crea ons such as the iridescent glass ‘Aurene’, as well as for technical processes such as the cas ng of Pyrex glass for architectural use. He had a strong understanding of science and the technical quali es of Carder: His Art and Science Stefani Ellis & John Parker Turner Museum of Glass, University of Sheffield, U.K.
Carder and Professor W.E.S. Turner (founder in 1916 of the Society for Glass Technology) are thought to have first met in 1919 on a visit to the Steuben factory, when the SGT visited America and the American Cameo, Blue Aurene, Intarsia Ceramic Society. The SGT and the American learn from each other’s industries, Ceramic Society regularly and Carder and Turner became exchanged visits to observe and good friends
Carder: His Art and Science Stefani Ellis & John Parker Turner Museum of Glass, University of Sheffield, U.K.
Carder and Turner greatly respected each other, as shown by the various pieces in the Turner Museum of Glass collec on that were gi ed to Turner by Carder himself, Verre de Soie, Rouge Flambé including the rare Rouge Flambé vase and a unique piece cra ed by the ‘cerre perdue’ process. Carder: His Art and Science Stefani Ellis & John Parker Turner Museum of Glass, University of Sheffield, U.K.
Turner also wrote an ar cle tled ‘The Art of Frederick Carder’ for the Journal of the Society of Glass Technology in 1939. In this ar cle he described pieces of Carder’s work as ‘masterpieces’ , and described Carder as a highly-driven perfec onist, much like Turner himself. pieces only being given to those The pieces given to Turner are closest to Carder who would thought to be extremely rare, appreciate the difficulty in the with the one-off ‘cerre perdue’ technique.
Carder: His Art and Science Stefani Ellis & John Parker Turner Museum of Glass, University of Sheffield, U.K.
Rouge flambé pieces were never sold commercially due to the difficulty in their produc on and tendency to crack whilst cooling, and it is believed that Turner watched the piece in the Turner Museum of Glass collec on being made first hand whilst visi ng Steuben. Carder: His Art and Science Stefani Ellis & John Parker Turner Museum of Glass, University of Sheffield, U.K. “The greatest ar st is he who goes a step beyond the demand and, by supplying works of a higher beauty and a higher interest than have yet been perceived, succeeds, a er a brief struggle with it’s strangeness, in adding this fresh extension of sense to the heritage of the race.... Frederick Carder went a step beyond” George Bernard Shaw, one of Carder’s contemporaries Found in Gardner, 1985, p118
References: Gardner, Paul Vickers. Frederick Carder: Portrait of a Glassmaker. Corning, N.Y. Corning Museum: Rockwell Museum, 1985 Photos from The Corning Museum of Glass website h p://www.cmog.org/