: Cut glass objects that include color are rare finds, but visitors
to The Corning Museum of Glass will be able to view exceptional
examples of colored cut glass in a new temporary exhibition
opening Tuesday, April 11.
"Splitting the Rainbow: Cut Glass in Color" will showcase some of
the most beautiful and unusual examples of Nineteenth and
Twentieth Century European and American colored cut glass vases,
drinking glasses, and other decorative and functional pieces.
Most of the more than 75 objects in the exhibition will be drawn
from the collection of The Corning Museum of Glass and will be on
view until November 1.
Some of the pieces on display were made of one layer of
transparent colored glass, but most were created using two or
three layers of glass - casing or layering colored glass over
high quality clear glass to create a "blank." Using revolving
stone and/or steel wheels, glass craftsmen then cut patterns in
the colored top layer or layers of the blank to reveal the
colorless glass beneath.
Claret jug, circa 1889-1899. Glass: T.G. Hawkes & Co.;
silver mount: Gorham Mfg Co. Collection of The Corning Museum
of Glass, gift of Cliff and Ruth Jordan.
In Nineteenth and Twentieth Century America, glassblowers in
large glass factories like Corning Glass Works or the Libbey Glass
Company created the blanks of colored glass. Some companies such as
Libbey or Dorflinger cut a number of the blanks in-house, but most
blanks were sold to cutting shops like T.G. Hawkes & Company or
T.B. Clark & Company, who then merchandised the final products
to exclusive retailers.
Colored cut glass pieces are rare because they were not made in
large quantities. The blanks were costly and complex to create,
the cutting and polishing technically demanding, and the finished
products were sold mainly as high-end products.
The show is a companion show to the museum's major summer
exhibition, "Glass of the Maharajahs: European Cut Glass
Furniture for Indian Royalty." The museum's curator of American
glass, Jane Shadel Spillman, is organizing both shows.
The Corning Museum of Glass, at One Museum Way, is home to the
world's most comprehensive and celebrated collection of glass,
with more than 40,000 objects reflecting 3,500 years of
glassmaking history. The museum is open from 9 am to 5 pm every
day and from 9 am to 8 pm in the summer, children 17 and under
admitted free.
For information, 800-732-6845 or www.cmog.org.
