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Figure I

Object NameSculpture

Artist René Roubíček (Czech, 1922-2018)

Made FromNon-lead glass

Date1980

Place MadeCzechoslovakia, Novy Bor

TechniqueMold-blown, hot-worked

SizeOverall H: 82 cm, Diam: 23.3 cm

Accession Number81.3.25

Curatorial Area(s)

Postwar and Contemporary

Exhibitions

Czechoslovakian Glass 1350-1980

Czech Glass Now: Contemporary Sculpture, 1970-2004

On ViewBen W. Heineman Sr. Family Gallery of Contemporary Glass.

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

Roubícek is well known for his virtuoso large-scale blown and hot-worked sculptures that are based on the human body. In terms of mass, volume, and control of form, cast glass lends itself to sculpture more than blown glass. Yet Roubícek has spent his career exploring the potential of blown glass for sculpture, and he has developed his sculpting technique in glass in a unique way. These ghostly figures were inspired by the rounded, abstract forms of the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957).

Physical DescriptionTranslucent milky white overlaid with colorless non-lead glass; blown into a mold, elongated and tooled while hot. Tall, uneven, hollow half-figure of colorless overlaid with white blown into a mold leaving a rib around perimeter; figure has suggestion of facial features (head is all white), twisted at the neck, body has been shaped with tools; white ends near base leaving colorless edge; thick base rim ground and polished flat, scattered seed bubbles and tool marks; unsigned.
Provenance

Source Art Centrum - 1981-01-09