Reticello Retort on Stand in Front of Altered Chemistry Set #10-07

Object NameSculpture

Artist Richard Marquis (American, b. 1945)

Made FromGlass, Metal, Found Objects

Date2010

TechniqueBlown, assembled

Size(a) Retort on Stand H: about 21.5 cm, W: about 24 cm, D: about 15.5 cm; (b) Chemistry Set (closed) H: 23.7 cm, W: 26.6 cm, D: 8 cm

Accession Number2012.4.116

Curatorial Area(s)

Postwar and Contemporary

Exhibitions

Masters of Studio Glass: Richard Marquis

Then and Now

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

Because Marquis is a collector and his collections are vast, they are important in terms of understanding his work. His collecting “categories” include Model A Ford Trucks, Studebakers, metal advertising signs, old pump insect sprayers, rubber squeeze toys, saltshakers, graniteware, anything with a Mexican siesta or English setter motif, Aloha shirts (Marquis sold this collection to the musician Rod Stewart), push-button knives, paint-by-numbers paintings, burnt match furniture, outboard motors, old slide viewers, Christmas bubble lights, kids’ chemistry sets from the 1940s and 1950s, Fiesta tableware, old cans, bamboo fly rods, fat pencils, and expired, unexposed film. Vintage bowling balls, repurposed as building blocks, are stacked in a large pyramid next to the studio that, with his house and an assortment of outbuildings and containers, defines Marquis’s island compound.

Place Made

United States, WA, Whidbey Island

Physical DescriptionSculpture, "Reticello Retort on Stand in Front of Altered Chemistry Set #10-07". (a) Colorless and blue glass, silver-colored metal; blown reticello glass, assembled. Glass retort with blue latticework showing a single airtrap in each diamond produced by the latticework. Glass vessel glued to silver-colored metal stand with three legs. (b) Wood box with hinged doors and metal handle. Back of box made from a partially completed paint-by-number painting showing a lighthouse scene. Box contains miniature champagne bottles, an orange plastic figurine of a man made of lighting bolts, and various parts of a chemistry set, including test tubes and litmus paper. Two large stickers showing a boy holding test tubes affixed to doors (one on inside and one on outside). Stickers read, "MADE IN U.S.A. / PRINTED IN U.S.A. / GILBERT / Chemistry Outfit / THIS SET IS NOT INTENDED FOR CHILDREN WHO CANNOT READ AND UNDERSTAND THE ACCOMPANYING INSTRUCTION BOOK.". Back of box decorated with two cartoon animals (possibly dogs or pigs) drawn in black marker, a silver star, a red sticker reading "HANDLE / WITH CARE", a sticker reading "10-07", a sticker reading "1946", and a faded price tag. One half of a metal wall mount affixed to back of box. (c) One half of a metal wall mount.
Provenance

Provenance Remark

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