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| Glass of the Architects - Photo: Cat Bauer |
But glass is not limited to Venice. Pasquale Gagliardi, Secretary General of the Giorgio Cini Foundation, said that although the project LE STANZE DEL VETRO was originally intended to showcase twentieth-century Venetian glass, he realized that exhibitions from other countries could be usefully compared with the art of glass in Venice.
THE GLASS OF THE ARCHITECTS. VIENNA 1900-1937 does just that. At the dawn of the 20th century, a group of young architects -- students of Otto Wagner at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna -- developed a special interest in glass, which, at the time, was also considered to be the most modernist medium in architecture.
In the first half of the twentieth century, in three different places: Austria, Finland and Italy -- especially Venice and Milan -- glass played a prominent part in the renewal of the decorative arts and the creation of modern taste, although similar developments were taking place in Britain, France and Belgium.
The Viennese architects worked with designers and radically transformed the industry, even working at the glass factories themselves.
The result was a treasure trove of fantastic glass objects, over 300 of which are on display here in Venice at Le Stanze del Vetro on the Island of San Giorgio. Most of the works come from the collection of the MAK (the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art) in Vienna and private collections.
The exhibition celebrates the birth of modern Austrian glassmaking in the period between the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Republic of Austria, and contains some truly remarkable works of art and craft.
I don't know if it's because my last name is Bauer, but I felt a special affinity to the glass from Vienna.
The Glass of the Architects. Vienna 1900-1937 runs through July 31, 2016, and is free to the public.
Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog
Human beings love glass, a magical substance created when sand meets fire. Blown glass has been a long Venetian tradition, which has famously produced exquisite objects both beautiful to behold and practical to use over the centuries.
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