Littleton's Spirit

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Object Name: 
Sculpture
Title: 
Littleton's Spirit
Accession Number: 
76.3.32 H
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 50.3 cm, W: 18.4 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
1976
Web Description: 
"It is my endeavor to guide glass from the so-called circle of good form, and to release it again and to consider it as an element which might harbor a whole world of poetical possibilities." Erwin Eisch is a painter and sculptor whose original work in glass made a profound impression during the formative years of the Studio Glass movement. Eisch met the studio glass pioneer Harvey Littleton in 1962. Through their friendship, an important link was established between European and American studio artists working in glass. Eight Heads of Harvey Littleton is Eisch’s multiple portrait of Littleton. Each head represents a different aspect of the artist’s personality. “Technique Is Cheap” refers to Littleton’s widely quoted aphorism that urged artists to focus on the artistic content of their work, rather than on glassworking techniques. Born into a family of glass engravers, Eisch was trained as an engraver, but he also studied industrial design, painting, and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1952, he and his brothers founded a glass factory at Frauenau, where he worked as chief designer. Eisch built a small furnace in the basement of his factory in 1965. This furnace was used for making the mold-blown and often lustered glass sculptures that he cut, engraved, and enameled.
Provenance: 
Kunsthaus Museum, Source
1976-12-09
Category: 
Color: 
Inscription: 
E. Eisch 76
Signature
in collar area
Primary Description: 
Sculpture, "Littleton's Spirit." Colorless glass, painted with collar and tie.
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass 2012-03-15 through 2013-02-03
Masters of Studio Glass: Erwin Eisch is a special exhibition of 22 vessels and sculptures by one of the founders of studio glass in Europe, Erwin Eisch (German, b. 1927). The exhibition recognizes Eisch for his achievements in developing glass as a material for artistic expression, and it celebrates the 50th anniversary of the birth of studio glass in the United States. Eisch, a close friend of American Studio Glass founder, Harvey K. Littleton (American, b. 1922), had a profound influence on the development of American, as well as European, studio glass. Objects in the exhibition span 40 years of Eisch’s career in glass from 1964 to 2004. His works are tradition-breaking, and his radical thoughts about art reflect the unorthodox approach to glass that has characterized his work throughout his career. All of the works presented are drawn from the Museum’s collection.
Sources of Inspiration (1998) p. 50; BIB# AI41266
Erwin Eisch (1982-10) p. 22; BIB# AI6757
The Corning Museum of Glass Annual Report 1976 (1977) illustrated, pp. 2, 4; BIB# AI97146
Moderne Glas aus Amerika, Europe and Japan (1976) illustrated, pp. 60-61; BIB# 28064
Reflections in Glass, Water and Wine section E, pp. 29, 36; BIB# AI42840