: - Fame eludes some artists because their work is either too
esoteric or too rarely found to capture the popular imagination.
While neither scenario applies to the "grand old man of glass,"
Frederick Carder (1863-1963), he ultimately never achieved the
household word-status accorded to his contemporaries, including
Louis Comfort Tiffany. Fame eluded Carder for the simple reason
that he was just too successful and too prolific.
"Lustrous: A Centennial Celebration of Art Glass Designed by
Frederick Carder," an exhibition on view at the
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute Museum of Art (MWPAI),
illustrates the brilliant career of the designer who became
director of the Steuben Glass Works 100 years ago. It is also an
attempt to erase the namelessness of one of America's greatest
designers of glass and expand the public's awareness.
The 40 shining examples on display at MWPAI have been drawn from
two of Carder's hometown museums in Corning, N.Y., The Corning
Museum of Glass and the Rockwell Museum, whose collection of
Carder-designed Stueben glass is now on a long-term loan to the
Corning Museum.
