Images(24)

Endeavor

Object NameSculpture

Artist Lino Tagliapietra (Italian, b. 1934)

Made FromGlass, Steel Cable

Date2004

TechniqueBlown, hot-worked, battuto cut, cut, assembled

Size(a) Longest Boat W: 166.3 cm

Accession Number2005.4.170

Credit LinePurchased in honor of James R. Houghton with funds from Corning Inc. and gifts from the Ennion Society, the Carbetz Foundation Inc., James B. Flaws and Marcia D. Weber, Maisie Houghton, Polly and John Guth, Mr. and Mrs. Carl H. Pforzheimer III, Wendell P. Weeks and Kim Frock, Alan and Nancy Cameros, the Honorable and Mrs. Amory Houghton Jr., E. Marie McKee and Robert H. Cole, Robert and Elizabeth Turissini, Peter and Cathy Volanakis, and Lino Tagliapietra and the Heller Gallery, New York.

Curatorial Area(s)

Postwar and Contemporary

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

This installation of 18 glass sculptures, suspended in the air by steel cables, is the culmination of a lifetime of work. It was made by Tagliapietra, who grew up on the island of Murano, the center for glassmaking in Venice. Today, he is recognized as the best glassblower in the world. Tagliapietra created Endeavor when he was 70 years old, after six decades of learning and experimenting with glass. He earned the prestigious title of maestro when he was 21 years old, and he had a full career designing and making glass on Murano for a number of Venetian companies. In 1979, Dale Chihuly and Benjamin Moore invited Tagliapietra to teach at the Pilchuck Glass School near Seattle, Washington. After that first trip, Tagliapietra returned to the United States every year to teach and to make work, and he now maintains studios on Murano and in Seattle. A beloved teacher and a respected artist, he has influenced the careers of an entire generation of American artists working in glass. Endeavor captures the airy transparency and the ever-present mystery of glass. To some viewers, the suspended forms are reminiscent of a flock of birds or a school of fish, or they represent powerful, abstract strokes of color. To others, the forms recall a fleet of boats, elegant and natural, impossibly elongated yet beautifully light, strong, and efficient, just like the uniquely proportioned gondolas that navigate Venice’s Grand Canal.

Place Made

United States, WA, Seattle

Physical DescriptionRed, pink, orange, yellow, gold, tan, brown, green, yellow-green, blue-green, blue, turquoise, black, and colorless glass; blown, hot-worked and battuto cut. Large installation composed of 18 elongated boat forms (canoa) that are suspended in the air by steel cables. Some of the objects are fused and blown murrine, others have filigrana cane decoration. The configuration of the boat forms may vary. a) hazy colorless, shiny interior, ground exterior; b) colorless, orange-brown and blue strips, ground "tortoise shell" pattern on exterior; c) orange interior with black stripes, exterior cut with "tortoise shell" pattern; d) colorless and black and orange lines, exterior ground parallel lines across body; e) yellow tint with black bands, ground parallel across body; f) colorless, orange and red strips, ground "tortoise shell" pattern on outside surface; g) colorless with alternating bands of colorless, yellow, white and brown; ground parallel bands across body; h) colorless, light and dark blue, ground pattern over entire exterior surface; i) colorless, yellow and black fine lines, ground "tortoise shell" pattern on exterior; j) colorless, light green and blue stripes, ground in "tortoise shell" on exterior; k) amber cased in colorless, exterior ground with parallel pattern running across body; l) multi-colored bands in green and purple, cut across body, parallel bands; m) colorless, green and black strips along body, cut with parallel lines across body; n) cased colorless, light and dark pine lines, ground patterning on exterior; o) colorless and light blue with brown strips, cut in "tortoise shell" pattern on exterior to deep blue areas; p) colorless, orange and light blue stripes, ground and cut with parallel lines diagonally across body; q) colorless (cased), light green, yellow and brown strips, exterior ground half "tortoise shell" and half parallel lines across body; r) deep orange and red strips, cut with "tortoise shell" pattern on outside.
Provenance

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