Vase with Cubist Composition

Object Name: 
Vase with Cubist Composition

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Object Name: 
Vase with Cubist Composition
Accession Number: 
2014.4.30
Dimensions: 
(a) Vase H: 27 cm, Diam (max): 28 cm; (a-c) Vase with Base H: 33.5 cm; (bc) Base H: 6.5 cm, W: 22.8 cm, D: 21.9 cm
Location: 
Not on Display
Date: 
1939
Credit Line: 
Gift of the Ennion Society
Web Description: 
“Twenty-Seven Contemporary Artists” was a series of engraved vases and bowls made by Steuben Glass in 1939. It was exhibited for the first time in the company’s New York City showroom in January 1940. Inspired by a conversation with the French painter Henri Matisse (1860–1954), Steuben’s design director, John Monteith Gates (American, 1905–1979), began in 1937 to enlist 27 well-known European and American artists to create designs for glass. They included Thomas Hart Benton, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Isamu Noguchi, Georgia O’Keeffe, and the French painter Fernand Léger. In Léger's engraved image, a building is shown from more than one angle, which is typical of Cubist constructions. Large plants appear on the right, and a plant or an abstract figure is outlined in an opening that may be a window or doorway, giving the impression of a house with people inside. Léger’s design drawing for the vase is one of 21 original drawings for the series that are owned by The Corning Museum of Glass, the gift in 2000 of Corning Incorporated. Steuben Glass proposed a limited edition of six of each design, five to be sold and one to be kept by the glassworks. However, a full edition of all of the designs was not completed, Steuben did not keep a set, and the company did not document how many were produced, so the exact number of each design made is unknown. The Museum owns 10 designs from this important series—nine finished pieces and one engraving study for a vase—and hopes to acquire examples of all of the designs produced. Signed: “F. LÉGER LEGER,” engraved at the right below the decoration, and “Steuben,” engraved in script on the base. Published: Madigan (29), p. 250; and Designs in Glass by Twenty-Seven Contemporary Artists, Corning: Steuben Glass Inc., 1940, p. 18.
Department: 
Series: 
Twenty-seven Contemporary Artists
Provenance: 
Garth's Auctions, Inc., Source
2014-07-30
Inscription: 
[image of snowflake] / STEUBEN GLASS
inscription
Printed (e) on top of lid in white
GE
inscription
Molded intaglio (b) on both prongs of AC plug
Steuben
signature
Engraved (a) on base in script
F. LEGER
signature
Engraved (a) on obverse underneath design
Primary Description: 
Vase with Cubist Composition from "Twenty-seven Contemporary Artists" Series with Original Lighted Base, and Original Packaging. (a) Colorless lead glass; mold-blown, engraved. Thick-walled spherical vase, squat, with circular foot, short neck and wider mouth. Cubist-style design of a house with tree with large pods and leaves, with figure in doorway, on the obverse of the vase; reverse is plain. (b) Square wood base painted black. Base contains two cylindrical light bulbs and electrical fittings. Base has metal switch and AC power cord. Circular hole cut in top into which circular translucent plastic diffuser (c) fits. (d) Original bluish-gray cardboard box with lid (e) and original shredded paper packing material. Image of snowflake and words "STEUBEN GLASS" printed on top of lid in white. (f) Original corrugated cardboard shipping box.
Twenty-Seven Contemporary Artists in Crystal
Venue(s)
Steuben Glass, Inc. 1940-01-10 through 1940-02-12
The Corning Museum of Glass: Notable Acquisitions 2014 (2015) illustrated, pp. 44-45 (#30); BIB# AI100547
Major Glass, Library Acquisitions Added to Corning Museum Collection (2015) illustrated, p. 330 (top); BIB# 705344
The Corning Museum of Glass Annual Report 2014 (2014) illustrated, pp. 8, 9 (top right); BIB# 706293
Engraved bowl [art original] (1938) illustrated BIB# 66425