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‘MAESTRO OF GLASSBLOWING’ TAKES CENTERSTAGE AT THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART’S CELEBRATION OF ART OF GLASS 2

Famed Glassblower Lino Tagliapietra Prepares to Showcase International Collection

(Norfolk, VA)—A teacher. An elder statesman. A maestro of glassblowing.

Just a few of the titles Lino Tagliapietra has earned during his 40-year career. Now the exhibition Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Italian Glass will also give visitors an intimate look into the first exhibition to thoroughly examine the master’s career and skill which has linked glass centers around the globe from Venice, Italy to the United States.

Stromboli, 2004 Designed and made by Lino Tagliapietra Blown glass with murrine; cut 17¼ x 10½ x 5½ inches Courtesy of Lino Tagliapietra, Inc. Photo by Russell Johnson

Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Italian Glass will open at the Chrysler Museum of Art on April 8, 2009 and run through July 19, 2009.

The exhibition will feature 155 pivotal works from Tagliapietra's own personal collection and collections around the world, as well as designs made for industry and objects that will be exhibited for the first time. Displays will range from an installation of his impressive Endeavor boat series, to groupings of his masterful goblets, to a selection of rare bonboniere, or tiny glass replicas of some of his favorite works given as party favors to loved ones.

“One of the wonderful things about Tagliapietra is that pure passion is what really drives him,”  says Kelly Conway, Curator of Glass at the Chrysler Museum of Art. “You can see it in his face as he works and in his vessels when they’re complete. After all these years, he’s still mesmerized by the material because there’s a drive within him. With every new work that he has breathed new life into, we have an opportunity to witness the same initial enthusiasm he had since he first began his career.”

Endeavor (installation of 35 boats), 1998–2003 Designed and made by Lino Tagliapietra Blown glass with multicolor canes; cut Individual boats: 45 x 5 x 5 ¼ inches to 79 x 5¼ x 8½ inches Courtesy of Lino Tagliapietra, Inc. Photo by Greg R. Miller

In conjunction with the exhibition, Art of Glass 2 will come alive through a variety of educational and entertaining programs. Live glassmaking demonstrations will take place on the grounds of the Museum throughout the month of May, including the Museum’s annual Perry and Bunny Morgan Family Day, when admission is free to the public. The Chrysler will offer special tours for school groups emphasizing the science of glass, and adult tours will be scheduled weekly from April through July. On Mother’s Day, Todd Rosenlieb Dance will perform newly choreographed works inspired by the beauty of glass and the physicality of its creation. In the summer, classes for children and adults will explore some of the many ways glass becomes art.

Mandara, 2006 Designed and made by Lino Tagliapietra Blown glass with multiple incalmi, crisscrossed canes, Pilchuck ’96 technique; cut 22¾ x 15¾ x 7½ inches Courtesy of Lino Tagliapietra, Inc. Photo by Russell Johnson

As a child, Tagliapietra left school and began working in the glassmaking industry on Murano, a small island in the Venetian lagoon. In 1979 he first came to Seattle in response to an invitation to teach at the young Pilchuck Glass School. American glassmakers were hungry to expand their technical knowledge and skills after a decade of experimentation. Defying criticism from the Murano glass community, Tagliapietra unhesitatingly shared what he knew with artists in the United States and worldwide, universally elevating the art and craft of glassmaking and changing the course of contemporary glass. Now age at 72, Tagliapietra’s artistic mastery and vision continue to influence Studio Glass artists around the world.

Five Eggs Lino Tagliapietra and Marina Angelin Effetre International, Murano, for Oggetti USA, around 1982 Mold-blown glass with applied color and murrine Tallest (red): 10½ x 8 x 8 inches Private Collection (red, white, purple), Collection of the artist (black), Collection of Marina Tagliapietra (yellow) Photo by Russell Johnson and Jeff Curtis

The catalogue, co-published by the Museum of Glass and the University of Washington Press, features essays by Susanne Frantz, former curator of 20th-century glass at the Corning Museum of Glass and curator of the traveling exhibition, Helmut Ricke, internationally acclaimed scholar and glass historian at the museum kunst palast in Düsseldorf, Germany, and Dante Marioni, an early Tagliapietra student and currently a leading glass artist in the United States. It will be available in the Chrysler Gift Shop for $50.

Silea, 2003 Designed and made by Lino Tagliapietra Blown glass with zanfirico cane patchwork 29½ x 9 x 6¾ inches Courtesy of Lino Tagliapietra, Inc. Photo by Russell Johnson

Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Italian Glass is one of two glass exhibitions at the Chrysler Museum of Art during the spring of 2009 and is a part of Art of Glass 2, a regional cultural partnership between the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Virginia Arts Festival, The Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, and 22 affiliate groups that will bring the best in contemporary glass from around the world to Hampton Roads. A full range of educational programs, demonstrations, lectures and artist residencies will be offered to bring the objects on view to life for visitors.

Credit
Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Italian Glass has been organized by the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. The exhibition is sponsored by Rebecca and Jack Benaroya, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Russell Investments, Windgate Charitable Foundation, Heritage Bank and The Boeing Company.

Local presentation of the exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Art of Glass 2. Please contact the Chrysler Museum of Art for updated sponsor information.

Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Italian Glass will be on view April 8, 2009 through July 19, 2009.

 

Members of the media in need of high-resolution images of the exhibition may contact the Office of Communications at 757.333.6295 or communications@chrysler.org for more information.