1½ col Dale

Dale Chihuly (United States) “Cobalt Violet Deep Persian Set,” 1993, blown glass, 31 inches wide; collection of Dena and Ralph Lowenbach.

1½ col  Libensky

Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova (Czech Republic), “Cross Composition,” 1986, cast glass, 34 inches high; collection of The Newark Museum.

1c Emile

Emile Gallé (France), vase with chrysanthemum design, circa 1900, carved and blown glass, 14 inches high; collection of The Newark Museum.

FOR 5-4

‘GLASS FROM GALLÉ TO CHIHULY’ SHINES AT NEWARK MUSEUM w/3 cuts

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NEWARK, N.J. — The Newark Museum presents its first major exhibition of contemporary studio glass May 6–August 5. “The Art of Glass from Gallé to Chihuly” surveys 80 pieces by 60 prominent artists to examine the diverse ways in which glass was used as an artistic medium throughout the world, particularly during the late Twentieth Century.

Artists such as Dale Chihuly, Judith Schaechter, Lino Tagliapietra, William Morris, Kazumi Ikemoto, Tom Patti and Hank Murta Adams approach glass in very different ways.

The majority of these contemporary works are from the collection of Dena and Ralph Lowenbach, a promised gift to The Newark Museum. Additional pieces from the museum’s permanent collection, which includes historical works by Emile Gallé, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Edvin Ohrstrom, Paolo Venini, Michael Higgins and Maurice Heaton, express the roots of this ever-evolving artistic movement.

“The gift of an entire, carefully assembled collection of glass — in this instance, contemporary studio glass — echoes seminal contributions of decades past, such as the Schaefer Collection of Ancient Glass, gifted to us in 1950. The donation of Dena and Ralph Lowenbach builds upon this rich foundation established during our 98-year history, and establishes us as a continuing force in Twentieth Century collecting,” said Mary Sue Price, director of The Newark Museum. “We thank the Lowenbachs and celebrate their generosity.

Referring to the medium itself, Ulysses Grant Dietz, the museum’s curator of decorative arts, described it with uncontained enthusiasm: “Flashy and dazzling, or brooding and mysterious, glass is the most versatile of all artistic media, in spite of the fact that it is the most difficult to master. The only limits to working with glass are an artist’s skill and imagination, and there’s no lack of that in this exhibition.”

“The Art of Glass” is organized into three parts that explore studio glass, with an additional prologue that forms the background for the coming movement. Forty-eight pieces from the promised Lowenbach bequest comprise the three sections of contemporary studio glass.

The first grouping, “The Sculptural Vessels,” looks at the various forms and interpretations of the iconic type of glass object, the vessel. The next two sections, “Figural Sculpture” and “Abstract Sculpture,” examine the work produced by artists who have moved away from the vessel.

Both figural and abstract sculpture in glass can achieve effects unattainable in any other material: the group of figural sculpture includes two-dimensional stained glass and a variety of glass-working techniques, such as blown, cut, cast, cold-worked, hot-worked and enameled; the abstract works explore the physical, optical and expressive qualities of glass as a medium.

The exhibition’s prologue looks at earlier glass objects taken from the museum’s collection of European and American art glass which, begun in 1913, now numbers more than 2,000 pieces. Thirty-one of these works, mostly created by hand and in factories as part of the decorative arts tradition, present the viewer with an opportunity to begin the exploration of the interconnections between art glass and studio glass.

“The Art of Glass” features several of the key glass artists, from the early masters, such as Emile Gallé and Louis Comfort Tiffany, to the pioneers of American studio glass, Michael and Frances Higgins and Maurice Heaton, to the movement’s barrier-breakers, Dale Chihuly and Harvey Littleton.

According to Dietz, “This exhibition covers almost every possible permutation of what an artist can do with glass — the diversity in style and technique is breathtaking.”

The Newark Museum is at 49 Washington Street. For information, 973-596-6550 or www.NewarkMuseum.org.