Littleton's Spirit

"It is my endeavor to guide glass from the so-called circle of good form, and to release it again and to consider it as an element which might harbor a whole world of poetical possibilities." Erwin Eisch is a painter and sculptor whose original work in glass made a profound impression during the formative years of the Studio Glass movement. Eisch met the studio glass pioneer Harvey Littleton in 1962. Through their friendship, an important link was established between European and American studio artists working in glass. Eight Heads of Harvey Littleton is Eisch’s multiple portrait of Littleton. Each head represents a different aspect of the artist’s personality. “Technique Is Cheap” refers to Littleton’s widely quoted aphorism that urged artists to focus on the artistic content of their work, rather than on glassworking techniques. Born into a family of glass engravers, Eisch was trained as an engraver, but he also studied industrial design, painting, and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1952, he and his brothers founded a glass factory at Frauenau, where he worked as chief designer. Eisch built a small furnace in the basement of his factory in 1965. This furnace was used for making the mold-blown and often lustered glass sculptures that he cut, engraved, and enameled.