ENJOYING

STEUBEN CLASS

BY

LOUIS REDMOND ' .'

I

~5353

HdkO\\' Lil>r<ltY_

Corning :\IUS<'llll1 ol ( lldSS

I • .. •

ENJOYING

STEUBEN CLASS

BY

LOUI S REDMOND

STEUBEN GLASS · Corning Glass Center, Corning, New York

THE REASON FOR IT

A Persian poet wrote: If you have two loaves of

bread, keep one to feed your hunger. Sell the other, and

buy flowers for your soul.

Steuben glass is both bread and flowers .

Some Steuben pieces have a day's work to do.

Others are meant only to be looked at, like sculpture.

But every Steuben piece offers one thing that cer­

tain people greatly prize. It was made by a human being.

Study six identical machine-made glasses. They

are identical. Study six "identical" Steuben glasses.

They vary by perhaps an eighth of an inch. That eighth

of an inch marks the difference between science and art.

It is the craftsman's humanity asserting itself.

We are surrounded by the repetitive marvels of

the machine. Steuben upholds the more spiri ted marvels

of the personal maker. Every object in these pages was

blown into life by a man's breath or shaped by a pair of

careful hands.

THE SUBSTANCE OF IT

The great charm of glass is that it is almost in­

visible. No other material conveys so well the delightful

feeling that something has been made out of practically

nothing.

The most nearly invisible kind of glass is called

"crystal". It excels in clarity, brilliance and colorless­

ness. Any taint of color dishonors it.

The crystal mixed (with extraordinary care) by

Steuben is the purest ever achieved in the history of

glassmaking.

Crystal has other likeable qualities. It is strong.

It sings out cheerfully when struck. A ray of light sets

it gleaming like mischief in a child's eye.

To appreciate painting, you must love paint. To

enjoy Steuben glass, surrender to the seductiveness of

pure crystal.

FLIGHT• DESIGNED BY DONALD POLLARD .

THE SHAPES IT TAKES

Like all worthy materials , crystal has a mind of

its own. The goal of Steuben designers is to help crystal

do what it likes to do.

They let it flow in hearty curves. They blow it

into the innocent perfection of a bubble or a teardrop .

They gently pinch, nudge, pat and shear it into modifica­

tions of its basic roundness.

But they never force it against its will into flimsy,

sugar-icing effects. When crystal is so forced, it eventu­

ally avenges itself by breaking.

The objects illustrated in this booklet will give

you a feeling for the Steuben style. See how simple and

sturdy they are. Their beauty comes from rhythmic

curves and the play of light . Even the most elaborate

Steuben pieces are combinations of the unaffected

shapes that come naturally to crystal.

GAZELLE BOWL• DESIGNED BY S IDNE Y WAU G H

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

LIVING WITH IT

Visitors to the Steuben Glass Shop sometimes

confess to a misgiving. Would they ever dare to use the

dazzling things for such prosaic purposes as drinking

water-or snuffing out a cigarette?

Their fears are groundless. People soon discover

that Steuben glass is comfortable to live with. And it

works.

Cigarette jars hold sensible quantities of ciga­

rettes. Pitchers pour cleanly. Goblets feel good in the

hand. Ashtrays really hold ashes. Cocktail sh akers

make generous rounds of drinks. A dinner table set

with Steuben crystal is a brilliant sight.

The elegance of Steuben glass is a well-bred ele­

gance. It never shouts. It lives on good terms with the

other furni shings of the house. And it brings a touch

of ceremony to the everyday business of living.

GIVING IT

What would be a suitable gift from a President

to a Queen? A birthday present for the Pope? A wedding

present for a Prince of the Orient?

These pictures show you the answers: specially

created masterworks of Steuben glass.

THE QUEEN ' S CUP was presented to Queen

Elizabe th II and The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,

by the President of the United States and Mrs. Eisen­

hower . It commemorates the first English settlement in

America, at Jam es town, in the region named " Virginia"

after the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I.

THE PAPAL CUP was presented to Pope Pius

XII, on the occasion of His Holiness' eightie th birthday,

by Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York.

THE ROSE BOWL was the wedding gift from

President and Mrs. Eisenhower to His Imperial High­

ness, The Crown Prince of Japan.

These are three among many state and royal

THE QUEEN ' S CUP• DESI GNED BY BRUCE MOORE

THE PAPAL CUP

G LAS S DES I GN B Y

GEORGE T H OMPSON

ENGRAV I NG DES I GN BY

S I DNEY WAUG H

gi fts that have been com­

mi ssioned from Steuben.

Crystal has a rare fitness for

such presentations. It com­

bines splendor with sim­

plici ty.

There was a time when

h eads of s tate lavished upon

each other gifts of gold and

of rubies . These Steuben

masterworks have a differ­

ent kind of wor th . They are

labors of love, which is rarer

than rubies.

THE ROSE BOWL

DES I GNED BY DON WIER

CREATING WITH IT

Artists are people with a hot and charming eager­

ness to tell you something they have seen or felt about

the world. To do so, they have used every material they

could lay hands on: colors squeezed from berries or

ground from minerals, gobs of clay, chunks of wood and

metal, slabs of stone.

The newest material of creative expression is

Steuben crystal. It is one of the most exciting of all.

Other graphic mediums are either flat or round.

The artist draws his picture on a flat surface, or he

shapes it from a solid chunk . With crystal he can do

both at once . His flat picture can be engraved on a sculp­

tural shape of glass . The transparency of the material

gives the composition a s triking illusion of space and

distance.

Look at " Swan Lake". You are sitting in a theatre .

The proscenium arch is in front of you. Far back on the

SWAN LAKE

GLASS DESIGN BY GEORG E THOMPSON

ENGRA V I NG DESI GN B Y SIDNEY WAUGH

stage are the dancers. What a sense of depth! It is hard

to believe that the piece is scarcely three inches thick.

Study the abstraction called "Genesis". You see

a wild swirl of the heavens, and a newborn planet floats

toward you, real enough to catch. A feeling of endless

space is expressed in a nine-inch crystal form.

Matisse, Epstein, Dali and other important artists

have been intrigued by the possibilities of this American

crystal. The results have found their way into museums

and private collections. And they have had an influence

upon utilitarian pieces. Many a Steuben tumbler and

candlestick is handsomer because of some artist's

dreamy experiment in pure form .

GENESIS

GLASS DESIGN BY DONALD POLLARD

ENGRAVING DESIGN BY TERRY HAASS

SMILING AT IT

See the fat animals on this page. They are deni­

zens of a beloved zoo.

Steuben never planned to have a zoo. It simply

happened. When you work with crystal, you find one

day that you have made a fat animal. In time, you have

a lot of fat animals.

Steuben has treated its little friends well. They

are sleek and well groomed and have no fear of man.

Meet their penguins. They are creatures of hum­

ble intelligence, but warm hearts. They gaze at you with

flattering interest. You fascinate them.

Not so the owls. They are clearly smarter than

you are. Do not try to stare them down. It will induce

the most painful feelings of inadequacy.

The bunny is soft and cuddly. The whale has

never been influenced by his surly colleague, Moby

Dick. Steuben has other animals whose pictures are not

shown-all from a storybook country.

People like Steuben's animals.

Steuben does too. They prove that crystal

is not only stately, beautiful, useful, crea­

tive. It can also smile.

We close with a picture of a crafts­

man signing a piece of Steuben glass. He

uses a diamond, and writes "Steuben".

It is not a trademark, but a signature.

This piece is a personal work. It was

made by hand, and there will never be

another one exactly like it.

75

1-65

/(