Red Pyramid

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Object Name: 
Sculpture
Title: 
Red Pyramid
Accession Number: 
94.3.101
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 83.4 cm, W: 119.3 cm, D: 28.2 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
1993
Credit Line: 
Gift of the artists
Web Description: 
The artistic partnership of Stanislav Libenský (b. 1921) and Jaroslava Brychtová (b. 1924) has had an enormous influence on the Studio Glass movement. The career in glass of this husband-and-wife team spanned more than 45 years. Their art explores ideas about light, color, space, and transparency. Charcoal studies of the forms are created by Libenský and given to Brychtová, who translates her husband’s drawings into three-dimensional models. The process of conceiving each sculpture - developing the concept, envisioning the form in three dimensions, and selecting the color of the glass to be used - is shared by the artists. While much abstract art can seem cold or removed, the sculptures of Libenský and Brychtová communicate emotion and energy through color and light. In Red Pyramid, the dramatic character of the sculpture results from the penetration of light into the glass mass, a phenomenon that the artists explored repeatedly in their work. Glass is a material that is often used symbolically. It lends itself to metaphor because it can imitate some things, such as water and stone, and suggest other things, such as air and light. One of the most powerful aspects of glass is its ability to hold light in its mass in a way similar to that in which energy, or the spirit, is held in the mass of the human body. Red Pyramid was presented to The Corning Museum of Glass at the time of the artists’ retrospective exhibition in 1994.
Provenance: 
Libensky, Stanislav (Czech, 1921-2002), Source
1994
Brychtova, Jaroslava (Czech, 1924-2020), Source
1994
Color: 
Material: 
Primary Description: 
Transparent red non-lead glass; glass chunks fused in a mold, ground, polished. Solid wide triangular sculpture with thin edges, sits cantilevered backwards, thickens gradually from top point towards base; one broad side (back) of triangle is flat and polished; other side (front) has matte surface from mold, front plane (in upper third of body) is cut by a horizontal angular notch (with mottled surfaces) running from left edge and stopping just short of right edge; section of front plane from right edge of notch to base bends sharply back, long front base edge is irregular, while all other base edges are smooth; obtuse triangular base is ground flat; inscribed at front right base edge: "S. LIBENSKÝ J. BRYCHTOVÁ 1993".
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass
Changing Exhibitions Gallery
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass
Sculpture Gallery
 
Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova: A 40-Year Collaboration in Glass
Venue(s)
Corning Museum of Glass 1994-04-23 through 1994-10-16
Cast: Art and Objects Made Using Humanity's Most Transformational Process (2017) illustrated, p. 230 (top); BIB# 149978
Glass: Virtual, Real (2016) illustrated, p. 81; BIB# 167899
Inviting the Light for Art That Glows (2015-03-15) illustrated, p. 18 (top left); BIB# AI99527
The Experience of Modern Sculpture: A Guide to Enjoying Works of the Past 100 Years (2015) illustrated, p. 76 (fig. 3.2); BIB# 169598
Jury Statements (New Glass Review 33) (2012) illustrated, p. 65; BIB# AI87128
Kiln Forming Glass (2010) illustrated, pp. 13-14; BIB# 110657
Corning Museum of Glass (2009-01) illustrated, p. 9; BIB# 109342
The Joy of Coldworking (2009) illustrated, p. 18; BIB# 107182
Transparent Destiny (2008-09) illustrated, p. 65;
Contemporary Glass Sculptures and Panels: Selections from the Corning Museum of Glass (2008) illustrated, p. 42, 144-145 (fig. 85, plate 48); BIB# 107478
Masters of Studio Glass: Joel Philip Myers and Steven I. Weinberg (2007) illustrated, p. 7, bottom right; BIB# AI75855
Tesori del Vetro al Corning Museum of Glass (2005-12) illustrated, pp. 28, 31, fig. 12; BIB# AI67739
Glass in Art, History, and Science at The Corning Museum of Glass (2003) illustrated, p. 71, no. 21; BIB# AI64198
Stanislav Libensky Jaroslava Brychtova (2002) illustrated, pp. 5, 194-195; BIB# 73574
Recent Important Acquisitions, 37 (1995) illustrated, p. 128, #64; BIB# AI36371
The Corning Museum of Glass, Curators' Choice (1995) illustrated, #24; BIB# 36655