Harvey K. Littleton - Harvey and Bess on their Way to Frauenau, Aug. 1962
Artist
Eisch, Erwin
(German, 1927 - 2022)
Date1975-2006
OriginGermany
MediumBlown glass in mold, manipulated while hot with enamel decoration
Dimensions26 1/2 × 10 1/2 × 8 1/4 in. (67.3 × 26.7 × 21 cm)
ClassificationsGlass
Credit LineGift of Carolyn K. and Richard F. Barry III
Object number2017.69
Label TextErwin Eisch (German, born 1927)
Harvey K. Littleton—Harvey and Bess on Their Way to Frauenau, August 1962
Blown in mold, hot-worked, painted enamel, 1976 (mold), 2006 (made)
Gift of Carolyn K. and Richard F. Barry III
German sculptor Erwin Eisch became a close friend of American studio glass movement founder Harvey K. Littleton (1922–2013), when they first met in August, 1962, a few months after the seminal experimental glass workshops held at the Toledo Museum of Art. The two men were kindred spirits in their belief that glass could and should be used as an expressive sculptural medium in a studio setting. They pursued their ambition jointly over many decades through collaborations, teaching engagements, and correspondence.
Eisch experimented with glass sculpture blown into ceramic molds since 1972. He made virtually identical mold-blown pieces into individual, unique statements by using different cold-working techniques to create imagery on each piece, along with distorting the hot glass sculpture as it emerged from the mold. His series of heads included those of Harvey Littleton, Thomas Buechner (the founding director of the Corning Museum of Glass), Picasso and Buddha.
At the time Eisch created the Head Series as a tribute to Littleton, in 1976, Littleton had left his teaching position to pursue his own art. The scene engraved on this bust, completed in 2006, invokes a “foundation myth” of the studio glass movement: Harvey Littleton and his wife Bess are walking through the Bavarian forest near Frauenau, in search of Eisch. An inscription on the back of the neck commemorates the event.
Status
Not on view
