The Corning Museum of Glass Annual Report 2010 Cover and opposite: Officers The Fellows of The Corning The Fellows of The Corning Museum of Glass Museum of Glass are among Reverse-painted view of James B. Flaws the world’s leading glass the Singelgracht, Amster- Chairman of the Board Carole Allaire collectors, scholars, dealers, dam. The Netherlands, and glassmakers. The E. Marie McKee Gary E. Baker about 1750–1775. W. Renée E. Belfer objectives of this organization President are (1) to disseminate knowl- 93.3 cm (2010.3.146). Robert A. Belfer edge about the history and Amory Houghton Jr. Mike Belkin Vice President art of glassmaking and (2) William W. Boeschenstein* to support the acquisitions James R. Houghton Alan L. Cameros program of the Museum’s Vice President Lt. Gen. Christian Clausen, retired Rakow Research Library. Simon Cottle Admission to the fellowship Denise A. Hauselt Kenneth C. Depew is intended to recognize Secretary Thomas P. Dimitroff accomplishment, and is by Linda E. Jolly Jay R. Doros invitation. Assistant Secretary David Dowler Mark S. Rogus Max Erlacher Treasurer Christopher T. G. Fish Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen Robert J. Grassi William Gudenrath Assistant Treasurer Jirˇí Harcuba David B. Whitehouse Douglas Heller Executive Director A. C. Hubbard Jr. Lawrence Jessen Trustees Kenneth L. Jobe Dorothy-Lee Jones Roger G. Ackerman* Olive Jones Peter S. Aldridge Leo Kaplan Thomas S. Buechner † Helena Koenigsmarková Van C. Campbell* Michael Kovacek Dale Chihuly Dwight P. Lanmon Patricia T. Dann Harvey K. Littleton James B. Flaws Louise Luther John P. Fox Jr. Kenneth W. Lyon Ben W. Heineman* Josef Marcolin Amory Houghton Jr. Gregory A. Merkel Arthur A. Houghton III Kirk J. Nelson James D. Houghton Barbara H. Olsen James R. Houghton Elmerina L. Parkman Thomas C. MacAvoy* Paul D. Parkman E. Marie McKee Paul N. Perrot Carl H. Pforzheimer III John V. B. Perry Carlos A. Picón Joan P. Randles Helmut Ricke Richard F. Randles Mark S. Rogus Peter Rath Charles A. Ryskamp*‡ Rachel Russell Antony E. Snow Prof. Dr. Axel von Saldern Photo Credits Peter F. Volanakis Josh Simpson All of the photographs in Wendell P. Weeks John P. Smith this Annual Report are by Ian McKibbin White Jean Sosin The Corning Museum of David B. Whitehouse Walter Spiegl Glass (Nicholas L. Wil liams, Paul J. Stankard Andrew M. Fortune, and * Trustee Emeritus Prof. Dr. Rudolf von Strasser Allison S. Lavine), with the † Deceased, June 13, 2010 Lino Tagliapietra following exceptions: ‡ Deceased, March 26, 2010 Catherine M. V. Thuro-Gripton Pages 4, 16, and 18: Kenneth R. Treis Photo by Gary Hodges Deborah Truitt Page 12: Photo by David Watts Deidi von Schaewen Karol Wight Pages 13 and 14: Photo by Eric Martin Wunsch Maria Strinni Gill Rainer Zietz Page 19: Installed at the Maris Zuika Chrysler Museum of Art, 2009 *Life Fellow The Corning Museum of Glass Annual Report 2010 An educational institution dedicated to the history, art, and science of glass Chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York April 27, 1951 (6026) Accredited by the American Association of Museums 1973, 1986, 1999, 2010 One of the highlights of 2010 was receiving family guests participated in the Make Your The Year reaccreditation by the American Association of Own Glass Workshop, which for the first time in Review Museums (AAM), the professional body that generated revenue of $1 million. The marked represents America’s museums. Fewer than increase in group tours prompted us to provide 800 of the nation’s 17,500 museums are ac- a temporary third venue for the Hot Glass credited. Accreditation by the AAM, which Show, in the auditorium. We also began Hot is widely recognized as the ultimate seal of Glass Show demonstrations on the third of approval for museums, is granted in recog- Celebrity Cruises’ Solstice-class ships, and glass nition of commitment to excellence, account- auctions on all three ships generated $58,000 ability, and the highest professional standards. for The Studio’s Glassmaking Scholarship Fund. Everything described in this Annual Report We continued to enrich our collections. In came under scrutiny, and we were proud (but addition to purchases of glass objects that not surprised) to be reaccredited. range in date from the 17th century to the The Museum first applied for, and was present day, we received, as a gift from the grant ed, accreditation in 1973, and since Ennion Society, The Cold Genius, an evocative then it has never lost this distinction. Our work in stained glass, made by the American next review by the AAM is planned for 2023, artist Judith Schaechter in 2009. by which time we will have been accredited Other highlights included a large reverse- for half a century. painted scene, created about 1750–1775, that There was much to be proud of in 2010. shows the Singelgracht, one of Amsterdam’s Visitation increased by six percent over 2009, many canals; a richly engraved tankard deco- and during the year we welcomed some rated by Johann Franz Trümper at the Altmün- 387,000 guests. While individual and family den glasshouse in Hesse-Kassel, Germany, in visitation was slightly lower than in 2009, the 1742; a wineglass with a stipple-engraved por- number of tour groups grew by 25 percent. trait executed in The Hague by David Wolff, Gross revenue from sales in the GlassMarket one of the great late 18th-century masters of and by food services was almost $6 million. this meticulous technique; an imposing cameo Just over one-quarter of all individual and glass lamp attributed to Thomas Webb and The Cold Genius, cut colored glass, lead came; light box. Judith Schaechter (American, b. 1961), U.S., Philadel- phia, PA, 2009. W. 106.7 cm (2010.4.121). Gift of the Ennion Society. 2 Sons of Stourbridge, England, about 1880; and Forest Glass, made in 2009 by Katherine Gray, who used found tumblers to create treelike forms and reverse the age-old cycle of destroy- ing forests to make glass, by using glass to make a forest. One of the pleasures of working at the Mu- seum occurs when the collecting paths of cura- tors and librarians intersect. Members of the Beilby family were celebrated 18th-century English enamelers who decorated numerous drinking glasses with coats of arms, landscapes, and other motifs. In 2010, the Rakow Research Library acquired, with funds contributed by the Fellows of the Museum, a pencil and wash landscape with trees and buildings beside a river, drawn about 1765 and signed by William Beilby. Seventy-four donors gave the Museum 305 objects for its glass collection, while no fewer than 278 individuals, galleries, and museums and other institutions enriched the holdings of the Rakow Library. hold ings, but also more than triples the Li- Cartouche study contain- During the year, we presented six temporary brary’s capacity for paper-based publications. ing landscape design, exhibitions. We extended the 2009 special ex- This is excellent news because, although we signed “WBeilby .” Eng- land, William Beilby hibition, “Voices of Contemporary Glass: The have an ambitious program to digitize the (English, 1740–1819), Heineman Collection,” which was seen by Library’s holdings, we foresee an increase in about 1765. Watercolor, more than half a million visitors. The 2010 the rate at which we collect paper, especially pen, and ink on paper. special exhibition was “Medieval Glass for in the field of unique archival materials. H. 15.5 cm, W. 19.9 cm Popes, Princes, and Peasants,” an overview The Museum produced a varied list of pub- (CMGL 115145). Pur- of glass vessels made in Europe between the lications. For the first time, the Annual Report chased with funds from end of the Roman Empire and the beginning was published in electronic form (with printed the Fellows of The Cor- ning Museum of Glass. of the Renaissance. The West Bridge was the copies available on demand). We also changed venue for three smaller exhibitions. “Tiffany the contents of the Report to focus on pro- Treasures” brought together objects from the grams. Instead of appearing exclusively in the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell Report, acquisitions of glass and library mate- University, the Rockwell Museum of Western rials were described and illustrated in the first Art, and our own collection. “East Meets West: volume of Notable Acquisitions, which reviews Cross-Cultural Influences in Glassmaking in 50 remarkable additions to our collections. the 18th and 19th Centuries,” drawn exclu- Other publications on paper included two sively from our collection, explores influences issues of our Members’ newsletter, The Gather; in glassmaking that resulted from cultural volume 52 of the Journal of Glass Studies; New exchange between western Europe and East Glass Review 31; Medieval Glass for Popes, Asia. A small exhibition in the “Masters of Princes, and Peasants; and the first in a pro- Studio Glass” series focused on the master jected series of three volumes that will provide engraver Jirˇí Harcuba. Meanwhile, in the a comprehensive catalog of our Islamic glass Rakow Library, we exhibited “Drawings for collection. Medieval Glass accompanied our American Stained Glass,” a selection from the special exhibition, and Islamic Glass in The Library’s collection of works of art on paper. Corning Museum of Glass, Volume One doc u- Two events in 2010 that enhanced the stew- ments our rich collection of scratch-engraved ardship of our collections were the opening and wheel-cut glass of the early centuries of of a new and enlarged conservation labora- the Muslim era. tory and the installation of compact shelving At the same time, The Studio produced two in the Rakow Library.