The Corning Museum of Glass has recently acquired several important works, including a room-sized installation by Kiki Smith, three exceptional cast glass gems, and an Art Deco necklace by René Lalique.Recent additions to the holdings of the Rakow Research Library of The Corning Museum of Glass include a unique 18th century contract outlining the trade of land for glassware and a one-of-a-kind book cover inlaid with electroformed glass by Michael Glancy.Kiki Smith, ConstellationThe internationally recognized sculptor and printmaker Kiki Smith frequently uses glass, in addition to many other materials, to explore ideas about the body, landscape and nature.In the Museum’s acquisition, made in 1996, the artist has brought the heavens to earth in a room-sized installation titled Constellation. The work is comprised of hot-sculpted glass animals of different sizes designed by Smith and produced by the Venetian maestro Pino Signoretto, cast glass stars, and hundreds of pieces of cast bronze animal scat. These elements are arranged into an imaginary night sky on a large circular field of handmade indigo-dyed Nepal paper. The work will be displayed in the new contemporary gallery of the Museum’s North Wing, opening in December, 2014. (2013.4.38, gift in part of Kiki Smith and Pace Gallery, New York, dimensions vary)
James and William Tassie, Three intaglio gems
Two of the gems are reproductions of stone intaglios with late 19th century origins. Both are cast in a deep red glass and are inscribed with the names of the original makers, Edward Burch and Nathaniel Marchant, respectively. The first gem depicts the Greek god Apollo wearing a laurel wreath. The second shows the figure of Agrippina, who sits beside a cinerary urn mourning for her dead husband Germanicus. The third gem is a reproduction of an ancient Roman cameo, signed by Sostratos, that is held in the collection of the British Museum. Cast in an emerald green glass, the gem depicts the partial scene of winged Eros leading a chariot drawn by two lionesses or female panthers. The ancient gem from which the scene was copied was broken, and the reproduction reflects this fact. It is inscribed in Greek ϹΩϹТРАТОY-meaning “of or by Sostratos.” The three Tassie gems are a gift of former Museum director Dr. Dwight Lanmon. (2013.3.8, Apollo gem: L. 2.75 cm, W. 1.8 cm, Depth 0.65 cm; 2013.3.9, Agrippina gem: L. 2.75 cm, W. 1.8 cm, Depth 0.85 cm; 2013.3.10, Eros gem: L. 2.7 cm, W. 1.7 cm, Depth 0.5 cm.)
René Lalique, Necklace, Dahlias et rondelles plates
Land indenture between English glass manufacturer Samuel Parker and Philadelphia merchant James Cowles Fisher
Michael Glancy: Infinite Obsessions
About The Corning Museum of Glass
The Corning Museum of Glass is home to the world’s most important collection of glass, including the finest examples of glassmaking spanning 3,500 years. Live glassblowing demonstrations (offered at the Museum, on the road, and at sea on Celebrity Cruises) bring the material to life. Daily Make Your Own Glass experiences at the Museum enable visitors to create work in a state-of-the-art glassmaking studio. The campus in Corning includes a year-round glassmaking school, The Studio, and the Rakow Research Library, the world’s preeminent collection of materials on the art and history of glass. Located in the heart of the Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State, the Museum is open daily, year-round. Kids and teens, 19 and under, receive free admission. www.cmog.org.
The Museum is currently adding a North Wing, designed by Thomas Phifer, which will open in late 2014. The 100,000-square-foot North Wing addition will include a new 26,000-square-foot contemporary art gallery building, as well as one of the world’s largest facilities for glassblowing demonstrations and live glass design sessions.