Published in the
Weekly Volcano, Jan. 5, 2016
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| "Vase Nenuphar (Water Lily Vase) from Le Verre Francais Line, mold-blown glass with interior and exterior crushed and powdered glass frits and single surface acid cutting by Charles Schneider, collection of David Huchthausen, photo by Lloyd Shugart |
Vases, vases and
more vases crowd two large galleries in Tacoma’s Museum of Glass — more than
100 Art Deco vases, statuettes, glass plates and wall hangings from the collection of David
Huchthausen, famous as an artist and collector. Not coincidentally an
exhibition of Huchthausen’s own outstanding glass art closed on the last day of
2016 in another of MOG’s galleries.
Art Deco was a craft movement that grew out of
various other art movements such as Cubism, Bauhaus design, and Art Nouveau, which
swept Europe and the United States in the 1920s and ’30s. It was prominent in architecture,
home décor, clothing, theatrical sets, jewelry, painting and sculpture. It is
distinguished by simple, clean shapes, often with what at the time was
considered a streamlined look with geometric or stylized figurative surface
decoration — a style associated with elegance and wealth.
Many of the works in this show are by unknown
artists identified only by the glass art studios that produced their works,
such as Daum Frères, aka Daum Nancey, and Vetri d’Arte Muranese. There are many
works by the same artists, most notably Charles Schneider. I counted 39 works
by Schneider before giving up counting. There is a group of 37 Schneider vases
in the first gallery. Taken as a group, there is an Egyptian look to these.
They are mostly tall vases with geometric designs.
The inventiveness and originality of most works
in this show can be seen in the surface decoration more so than in the form of
the various vessels.
There are beautiful classical vases by René Lalique
in clear glass or translucent white or off-white with bas relief sculptures of
dancing nudes with interlocked arms. On the Lalique vase with a slight green
tint called “Vase Bacchantes” the classical nudes are so close together as to
look like they are growing out of each other, and the green tint gives it a
ghostly appearance.
The stacked and repetitive geometric shapes on
Schneider’s “Water Lily Vase” looks to these eyes not so much like abstracted
lilies but like a bird of prey, and its red color is fiery with an inner glow.
Among my favorites are four pieces attributed
to Karel Palda with severe geometric patterns and strong color contrasts on
cylindrical vases, decanters and other forms decorated with circular, zig-zag
and stacked square-and-rectangular designs.
A small brandy snifter by an unidentified
artist from Vetri d’Arte Muranese features an etched line drawing of figures
and peacocks that are amazingly detailed and delicate.
A molded vase with deep-cut acid designs from
Daum Nancey has the heavy and imposing look of ancient armor.
Wandering among the more than 100 works (a few
on the walls but mostly in display cases) is like a scavenger hunt among artworks
both antique and modern with an endless yet subtle variety of decorative
elements.
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