TITLE

Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass

IMPRINT

MFA Publications

PRICE US

$50.00 CDN $50.00

ISBN

9780878467648 TRADE

FORMAT

Clth, 10 x 9.5 in., 160 pgs, 125 color.

CATALOG

SPRING 2011 p. 176   

DISTRIBUTOR

D.A.P.

PUB DATE

5/31/2011

STATUS

Active

STOCK

In stock

MFA PUBLICATIONS

Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass

Text by Gerald W.R. Ward.

Arguably the most famous glass artist since Louis Comfort Tiffany, Dale Chihuly has been credited with elevating blown glass from delicate decorative object to groundbreaking fine art. Chihuly's "Blanket Cylinders," "Seaforms," "Persians" and chandeliers are exhibited and collected throughout the world, and many volumes have been devoted to his bold, complex, fiercely colorful work. Little documented, however, though crucial to an understanding of his art, is the role played by physical space in his overall aesthetic--installation spaces, work spaces, but also spaces for living and for housing his extensive personal collections. Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass focuses on the artist's pieces and installations in relation to the spaces that generate, shape and surround them. The text, a mix of critical exegesis and Chihuly's own commentary (much of it solicited specifically for this book), provides a new entrée into the work, mind, and creative process of one of America's most critically and popularly acclaimed artists.
One of the few contemporary artists who is truly a household name, Dale Chihuly (born 1941) studied interior design and architecture before beginning to experiment with glassblowing. After receiving degrees in sculpture and ceramics, Chihuly worked with master glass craftsmen in Murano, Venice. On returning to the United States, Chihuly established the glass program at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1968 and cofounded the Pilchuck Glass School in 1971. In 1979, after losing an eye, Chihuly ceased to blow glass himself, though he maintains a firm hold on the artistic direction of his studio.

"One night [in 1965] I melted a few pounds of stained glass in one of my kilns and dipped a steel pipe from the basement into it. I blew into the pipe and a bubble of glass appeared. I had never seen glassblowing before. My fascination for it probably comes in part from discovering the process that night by accident. From that moment, I became obsessed with learning all I could about glass."

--Dale Chihuly, excerpted from Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass. Featured image is "Japanese Bridge Chandelier" at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, 2006.

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MFA Publications
ISBN 9780878467181
US $55.00 CAN $55.00 TRADE
Hardcover, 9.5 x 10.5 in. / 256 pgs / 160 color.
Pub Date: 10/01/2007 Active/Awaiting stock

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