Leseprobe

In the GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts, glass was one of the main material groups upon which the collection was built when it was established. Of course Venetian glass fromMurano is a collection high- light: it contains historical glass, including Venetian art glass from the 16th century alongside examples from the present. Venetian’s glass-makers were famous for their clear, colourless glass— cristallo —that only a few glass craftsmen were able to produce at the time. 3 The glassblowers of the time also used the a canne (canework) technique, in which fine glass rods are melted together, that is still used in Murano today (Fig. 1). The inlays of glass canes created with the technique can also be formed into delicate ornament reminiscent of lace called reticello and filigrana . 4 Their proximity to textilematerials has inspired glass artists throughout the centuries. In the vessels presented in an exhibition designed for the French fashion designer Christian Dior, Ercole Barovier worked with coloured glass ribbons and canes that he placed on top of each other like threads crossing in woven fabrics—here, Scottish tartans (Barovier Cat. no. 138–141) (Fig. 2). At the end of the 19th century, contemporary examples made their way into the GRASSI collection as acquisitions or donations, but few examples that represent the development of 20th century art glass did. However, objects that provide insight into Muranese art glass in the 20th century have recently been added to the museum’s collection—primarily as donations from the collectors Wilfried and Inge Funke. They include objects from the Fratelli Toso, Venini & Co., Arte Vetraria Muranese, and Vetreria Alfredo Barbini glass factories. Among them are works from the 1950s that Aureliano Toso (1884– 1979) produced according to designs by the Venetian painter and designer ‘Dino’ Corrado Martens (1894–1970) (Fig. 3) that are part of the famous Oriente series. 5 The ring flask from 1952, which was exhibited in the Eldorado series under the title Osellaria Congo at the 16th Biennale in Venice, is one of the first works that also fascinated Lutz Holz and became part of his collection. 6 But these objects in the Holz collection will not be exhibited in Leipzig. On the other hand, a bowl by Carlo Scarpa will be shown in the part of the exhibition located in the TECHNE SPHERE, in the context of comparableworks by the architect (Fig. 4). 7 The bowl from the Murrina del Serpente series is one of two such bowls in the collection of the GRASSI Museum. Considered Scarpa’s most famous mosaic design, the object was created for Venini & Co. in 1940, when Scarpa was the factory’s foremost designer. 8 With the special exhibition Murano — Colour Light Fire from the Lutz Holz Collection, it is now possible to showmodern art glass fromMurano in its wide spectrumof variations and fascinating artistry in Leipzig. Themajority of the selected objects were created according to designs by Ercole Barovier. Barovier was the head of Barovier & Toso from 1933 until 1972 but influenced its production from 1919 onward. With new and experimental techniques, he set the course of 20th century art glass to a great extent. For example, he invented the colorazione a caldo senza fusione technique in which oxide and metals were added to the glass matrix. 9 Barovier developed the technique in the 1930s, when he was experimenting with glass colourants, and applied for a patent in 1937. In the 1950s, enchantingly beautiful forms were created using this technique, such as the selected examples from the Laguna gemmata series in the exhi- bition (Barovier Cat. no. 15). The objects by the Japanese artist Yoichi Ohira are examples ofMurano glass art’s further development, new tendencies, and possibilities in the 21st century. Ohira interpreted and found new ways of using traditional artisan techniques in his own style. His objects showexpressivemoments emerging from the 3  GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst Leipzig: Ständige Ausstellung. Antike bis His- torismus , 2. Aufl., Leipzig 2009, p. 53. 4  Heiremans 2002, 67. Cf. the same in this catalogue, p. 18. 5  It was created in 1952 and was produced until 1956. Düsseldorf 1996, Cat. 203–206; Heiremans 2002, p. 165–167; Munich 2016, p. 158 et seq. 6  Düsseldorf 1996, Cat. no. 204. Venice 2017, 1. 7  Also from the donation by Inge and Wilfried Funke; Inv. no. 2013.475. 8  In Venini production catalogues, the bowl was offered with red or turquoise green glass pieces between 1982 and 1992. Venini & C. – Die Epoche Carlo Scarpa, in: Düsseldorf 1996, Cat. no. 38. 9  See the Techniques section in this catalogue, p. 28. 13