Venini Series 1972

Object NameSculpture

Assistant Gianni Toso (Italian, b. 1942)

Designer Marvin Lipofsky (American, 1938-2016)

Manufacturer Venini Glassworks

Made FromGlass

Date1972

Place MadeItaly, Venice, Murano

TechniqueMold-blown and hot-worked a canne

SizeOverall H: 22.3 cm, W: 30.6 cm, Diam (max): 32.7 cm

Accession Number74.3.120

Curatorial Area(s)

Postwar and Contemporary

Exhibitions

Title Unknown (Roberson Center for the Arts and Sciences)

Venice and American Studio Glass

Glassmaking: America's First Industry

The Italian Influence in Contemporary Glass

On ViewModern Gallery

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

Marvin Lipofsky, who established studio glass programs at the University of California in Berkeley and at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, visited the Venini glassworks in 1972. He worked for a few days there with Gianni Toso, a master glassblower and flameworker who Lipofsky brought to California to teach for a few months in 1975. The exposure of American studio artists to Italian glass masters dramatically changed the ways in which glassblowing was taught.

Physical DescriptionColorless, opal and pink tinted glass; blown and partly molded. Irregular bulbous form divided in center by molded impressions, tapering conical "neck" (approx. 9 cm long); smooth "rim", colorless body of object overlaps "neck" in irregular collar; six stripes in opal canes cased in pink encircle body vertically from below collar (smallest) to center of body (largest); canes are open, showing cross-section of opal and pink, just above base on one side; 5 flattened oval bubbles within colorless glass (approx. 1-3 cm long) occupy area between stripes forming a horizontal row on one side of collar and 5 more form vertical row above and to one side of collar; opal glass inclusion covers top of molded region at base; signed (stipple engraved?) on base of neck "Lipofsky 72".
Provenance

Former Collection Marvin Lipofsky (American, 1938-2016) - 1974