User:Morrisque/Sandbox

Art Glass

"Blown Glass" vs "Blown and Moulded" glass
Also has to be careful with terminology. The term "Blown Glass" refers only to individually hand-made items and can include the use of moulds for shaping, ribbing & spiking to produce decorative bubbles.

Packaging or Art ?
Perfume or "scent" bottle collectors will probably argue otherwise and many antique bottles have now come to be appreciated as "Art Glass" but all contemporary bottles and older bottles which are merely functional, may well come under the heading of "Glass Collectibles" but not "Art Glass".

The opposite of "Art Glass"
So at it's broadest level "Art Glass" can most easily be defined in opposition to glass for utilitarian purposes where the intended use is significantly more important that form, decoration or artistic design. We have seen how this would include most glass packaging; as well as scientific glass but also includes of course, glass for industrial and architectural purposes. Finally, "Art Glass" excludes also functional Glasswarefor the home and for the catering & hospitality industries.

Refined Glassware- "Cut Glass"
Refined glassware such as cut crystal drinkware and barware could be considered as a grey area. While there is no disputing the skill traditionally required to produce such items and while cut crystal manufacturers will, no doubt, like to think of their products as having artistic or design flair, the fact remains that they are primarily intended for use and the vast majority of cut decoration tends to be repetitious, formulaic and these days, increasingly automated.

Vases and bowls, items which often form the "canvas" for "Art Glass", are far more likely to be in daily use if in cut crystal than their more artistic cousins which remain for the most part empty as display ornaments. It must be noted however that cutting techniques of various types may be and have been used as part of the decoration of many indisputable examples of "Art Glass".

"Art Cut
There as ever exceptions and there certainly is a case for those highly distinctive cut crystal designs, which were produced in relatively small or limited quantities. Often these were by designers of note who were named and promoted. Examples here would be Keith Murray for Steven & Williams in the 1930's and Clyne Farquharson for John Walsh Walsh. A relatively new term is coming into use for this genre: "Art Cut" (crystal or glass)

Until recent years, in English speaking countries at least, artistic items, of any kind, made of glass would come under the heading of "Applied Arts". However, there is now increasing recognition that glass can be an artistic medium on a par with traditional media such as canvas, stone and bronze.

This is now certainly true of what can be termed as Glass Art(artworks made entirely or largely of glass)and with time may come to encompass items which currently would come under the label of "Art Glass".

Currently items with no discernible function such as, glass sculptures, including figures, figurines and statuettes, if they are anything less than monumental or statuesque, would be classed as Art Glass rather than Glass Art.

Art Glass also includes artistic vessels, designed or intended primarily as ornaments or for decorative purposes, where there is no apparent function or where the ostensible function is incidental. An even larger group of items included in "Art Glass" are vessels such as vases, which were originally intended to be used (glassware) but with time have been deemed of artistic merit due to a significant degree of refined ornamentation, decoration or stylized design which goes significantly beyond the needs of functionality.

Uniqueness & Replaceability One test of what constitutes "Art Glass" used by appraisers, valuers, dealers and collectors is the degree of replaceability, if the item were broken or irreparably damaged. If it's easy to find and buy an exact replacement then one would have to question any claim to it being Art Glass. This is usually fairly easy to ascertain, perhaps with a bit of research although there are shades of grey as to how exact a copy the replacement should be.

Conversely, even if the original work was done by a living artist, largely or wholly by hand if he could not guarantee an exact replica, and it has even a modicum of artistic merit, then one would be forced to recognise the work at Art Glass.

Collectibility "Collectibility" on the other hand can be a highly subjective judgement which is much abused. It is most often used by dealers to infer scarcity, desirability and rising values. The inference may, or may not be correct, to varying degrees, but the concept of "collectibility" has no direct bearing on the classification of a glass item as "Art Glass". There are many items of Glassware and of Glass Collectibles which according to the premium prices commanded on the secondary market would be considered as highly "collectible" but which do not count as "art Glass". These would include items of mass manufacture where the decoration is automated or standardized and collectibility is the result of scarcity.

Exceptions Art Glass would not usually include items of mass manufacture where the decoration is automated or standardized.

Not "domestic ornamental or decorative glass" but IoWSG ?

Art Glass vs Glass Art
Glass Artincluding : Glass Sculpture Artistic Architectural Glass Art Glass Installations Glass in Art Artworks which include glass elements

Artistic glass Designer glass vs designed glass

Glassware Historical, Antique, Vintage, "designed" Contemporary Decorative Glass where the degree of "artistry" cannot yet be judged Utilitarian vs Refined "Pattern Glass" eg drinking glasses and "Stengelglas"

Architectural Glass Stained Glass Decorative glass for architectural use vs Artistic, unique glass panels, sculptures & installations historically: eg Decorated Art Deco mounted mirrors

Types
Studio Glass is only one part of what is considered by collectors, researchers, publishers and librarians as "Art Glass". Not all "Studio Glass" is Art Glass; Some of it is small-batch industrial, utilitarian, craft, or scientific.

Hobby glass lampworking, slumping & fusing, bead making, glass painting & stained glass making

Factory glass Monart vs Vasart ?

Crossing Boundaries
Types of glass which can be either "Art Glass" or "Glassware"

Pressed glass Blown glass

Hot Worked glass Lampworking Slumped & Fused glass pressed glass