[PA-NJ Glassblowers] 2016 Exhibitions at Corning Museum of Glass Explore Intersections of Science and Art-17th Century to Present

Tony Patti gaffer at glassblower.info
Sat Nov 21 11:04:27 EST 2015


 


 

2016 EXHIBITIONS AT CORNING MUSEUM OF GLASS EXPLORE INTERSECTIONS OF SCIENCE
AND ART-17th CENTURY TO PRESENT

 

Exquisite Works by 19th-Century Glass Artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka

Provide a Critical Time Capsule of Marine Creatures for Scientists Today

May 14, 2016 through January 8, 2017

 

Scientists and Artists Explore the Microscopic World, 1600-1800, in 

Revealing the Invisible: The History of Glass and the Microscope

April 23, 2016 through March 18, 2017

 


cid:image001.jpg at 01D122A2.F07CC490

cid:image002.png at 01D122A2.F07CC490

 

Left: A specimen of marine life, Comatula Mediterranea, rendered in glass,
paint, metal wire, and resin by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, Dresden,
Germany, 1885. Lent by Cornell University, Department of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology. Image courtesy of Corning Museum of Glass. Right:
Binocular microscope, Henry Crouch, London, England, c. 1850-1875. Lent by
Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, the Netherlands. Image courtesy of Museum
Boerhaave

 

November 19, 2015-Corning, NY-In May 2016, The Corning Museum of Glass
(CMoG) will present the first comprehensive exhibition to explore the
relationship between the exquisite works of famed 19th-century glass artists
and naturalists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka and their impact on marine
conservation efforts today. Titled Fragile Legacy: The Marine Invertebrate
Models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, the exhibition features more than 70
exquisitely detailed glass models of marine invertebrates and dozens of the
Blaschkas' original drawings of aquatic lifeforms. Taken together, the
Blaschkas' creations serve as a time capsule of the ocean's past, and
provide a critical benchmark for 21st-century scientists trying to determine
how many of these species still survive. On view at CMoG from May 14, 2016
through January 8, 2017, the exhibition will also feature footage taken by
two Cornell University researchers who have set out to film living examples
of the creatures captured in glass by the Blaschkas more than a century ago.


 

In April 2016, CMoG will also present Revealing the Invisible: The History
of Glass and the Microscope. This exhibition will tell the stories of
scientists' and artists' explorations of the microscopic world from the
early 1600s until the late 1800s, and show how their work drove improvements
in scientific glass and the advent of modern scientific glassmaking. Key
archival materials from the Museum's Juliette K. and Leonard S. Rakow
Research Library will be featured in the exhibition, alongside historically
significant microscopes from external lenders, including an original van
Leeuwenhoek microscope-one of only a dozen left in the world. The exhibit
will be on view from April 23, 2016 through March 18, 2017.

 

"CMoG is a center for the exploration of glass as a material, a nexus for
artists experimenting and innovating with glass, and the premier place to
study the history of glass," said Dr. Karol Wight, the president and
executive director of The Corning Museum of Glass. "These exhibitions grow
out of the diverse range of expertise and resources at CMoG, which is unlike
any other single institution in the world. Fragile Legacy and Revealing the
Invisible illustrate how art and science work together to give us new
insights into our world-from life in a drop of water, to life in the depths
of the ocean." 

 

Dr. Marvin Bolt, CMoG's curator of science and technology, added, "There is
often an assumption that the sciences and the arts are worlds apart. But it
is the curiosity shared by artists and scientists alike that led to advances
in glass technology and to the development of the modern microscope, as we
show in Revealing the Invisible. And it is the extraordinary technical and
artistic skill of the Blaschkas that make their models as important for
scientists today as they were in the 19th century. It's tremendously
exciting to present these exhibitions that bring the public into
collaborations by artistic and scientific visionaries."

 

Juliette K. and Leonard S. Rakow Research Library

CMoG's 2016 exhibitions draw extensively from holdings of The Juliette K.
and Leonard S. Rakow Research Library, the foremost library on the art and
history of glass and glassmaking. The Rakow is home to the Leopold and
Rudolf Blaschka Archive, the world's largest collection of scholarship and
original materials pertaining to the father-and-son team. The library's
collection has over 900 original art drawings of plants and invertebrate
animals made as studies for the glass models, and also includes the
Blaschkas' notebooks, ledgers, and correspondence, as well as the preeminent
collection of books, journals, and other materials for study of the
Blaschkas and their work. Holdings from the Rakow on view in Revealing the
Invisible will include a rare first edition of Robert Hooke's Micrographia,
featuring the English scientist's breakthrough drawings of insects and
plants as observed under a microscope. Published in 1665, Micrographia
captured popular imagination, inspiring widespread interest in the emerging
science of microscopy.

 

Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka 

Leopold Blaschka (1822-1895) descended from a family of glassblowers and
flame workers, whose glass production can be traced back to the 15th
century. Although Leopold worked for his family's business as a costume
jeweler in Bohemia, he also made glass models of plants informed by his
hobby of studying, collecting, and painting botanicals. In 1853, Leopold was
on a sea voyage when his ship becalmed for two weeks, and he became
entranced by the jellyfish and other creatures he observed floating in the
water. A decade later Leopold drew on this experience when the director of
the Natural History Museum in Dresden, who was familiar with Leopold's plant
models, commissioned him to produce sea anemones for museum display.

 

The works attracted the attention of universities and newly founded natural
history museums, each of which wanted similar models for research, teaching,
and exhibition. By 1880, son Rudolf (1857-1939) had joined his father in the
thriving enterprise, which eventually included 700 invertebrate models
available for production upon request. The team marketed their extensive
roster of models via catalogues, one of which will be on display in Fragile
Legacy. They even installed their own aquarium at their workshop in Dresden,
allowing them to study living animals. Leopold and Rudolph began to turn
their attention to creating glass flowers after receiving a prestigious
commission in 1887 from Harvard University for the now-celebrated Ware
Collection, eventually leading the Blaschkas to cease production of the
marine invertebrates in order to focus entirely on the flowers. 

 

CMoG and Cornell University

In 1885, Cornell University acquired 570 of the Blaschka's marine
invertebrate models. With the advent of the aqualung and underwater
photography by the mid-20th century, interest in the models waned and
Cornell's Blaschka collection fell into disuse. It lay all but forgotten
until the 1960s, when it was rediscovered and sent to CMoG for preservation
and display. Much of Cornell's invertebrate collection remains on long-term
loan to the Museum to this day. 

 

CMoG's unparalleled Blaschka resources and longstanding relationship with
Cornell will be a focus of the documentary Fragile Legacy. Dr. Drew Harvell,
a marine biologist in Cornell's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology and the curator of the Cornell collection of Blaschka glass, has
joined underwater filmmaker David O. Brown on a quest to film living
examples of the inspirations for the Cornell Blaschka collection. Their
award-winning film, Fragile Legacy, will have its premiere at the Museum in
the spring.

 

About The Corning Museum of Glass

The Corning Museum of Glass is the foremost authority on the art, history,
science, and design of glass. It is home to the world's most important
collection of glass, including the finest examples of glassmaking spanning
3,500 years. Live glassblowing demonstrations (offered at the Museum, on the
road, and at sea on Celebrity Cruises) bring the material to life. Daily
Make Your Own Glass experiences at the Museum enable visitors to create work
in a state-of-the-art glassmaking studio. The campus in Corning includes a
year-round glassmaking school, The Studio, and the Rakow Research Library,
the world's preeminent collection of materials on the art and history of
glass. Located in the heart of the Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York
State, the Museum is open daily, year-round. Kids and teens, 17 and under,
receive free admission.

 

###

 

To access high-resolution images visit cmog.org/press-center
<http://www.cmog.org/press-center> .

 

Contact for more information:

 

Kim Thompson

Public Relations Specialist

The Corning Museum of Glass

607.438.5219 | m 607.333.0429 | CMOG.org <http://www.cmog.org/> 

 

 

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