American Glass : : the Collections at Yale

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Call Number: 748.097 Go
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	748.097 Go	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Director's foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Note to the reader -- For glass for country and for Yale: Francis P. Garvin and Rhea Mansfield Knittle -- Catalogue -- The politics glass -- Index -- Photo Credits.
"Glass can be decorative or utilitarian, and its forms often reflect technological innovations and social change. Drawing on an insightful selection from the Yale University Art Gallery and other collections at Yale, American Glass illuminates the vital and often intimate roles that glass has played in the nation's art and culture. Spectacularly illustrated, the publication showcases eighteenth-century mold-blown vessels, nineteenth-century pressed glass, innovative studio work, and luminous stained-glass windows by John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany, the latter reproduced as a lush gatefold. These are considered alongside beguiling objects that broaden our expectations of glass and speak to the centrality of the medium in American life, including one of the oldest complex microscopes in the United States, an early Edison light bulb, glass-plate photography, jewelry, and more. With an essay on the history of collecting American glass and discussions of each object that present new scholarship, this engaging book tells the long and rich history of glass in America--from prehistoric minerals to contemporary sculptures"--Dust jacket front flap.

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Unexpectedly Captivating History of American Glassmaking submitted by Meginator on July 14, 2019, 5:12pm This beautifully produced catalogue presents over 150 examples of glass from across Yale University’s museums and libraries. The emphasis, particularly early, is on practical items such as flasks, bowls, vases, and similar objects; only in the mid-20th century does art made for its own sake make an appearance, with the possible exception of a couple of photographic plates (including a stunning full-color autochrome photograph from 1915(!)). Despite this seemingly mundane focal point, Gordon does an excellent job of teasing out the nuances that distinguish each piece in his curatorial notes, although he occasionally uses some terms of art that may not immediately apparent to readers unfamiliar with glassworking techniques. These pieces are obviously carefully chosen, and together they create a broad, accessible, and captivating visual history of (mostly) American glassmaking traditions. Gordon thoughtfully concludes with a brief essay about the recent deliberate destruction of a glass window in one of Yale’s dining halls, using the incident to explore the connection between artistic endeavor and political awareness and to justify the ongoing importance of artistic expression as a crucial means of understanding and relating to the world. To this end, though the majority of these objects are (understandably perhaps, given their age) attributed to men, Gordon seems to have made a deliberate effort to include female creators when selecting the more recent pieces. Overall, I spent way more time with this book than I initially thought I would, and it has piqued my own interest in everyday and extraordinary glass objects; I highly recommend it if you have even a fleeting interest in the subject.