Crystal Arrow (from the Boat Form Series)
Artist: Bertil Vallien (Swedish, born 1938)
Date: 1987
Dimensions:
H: 41 3/8 in.; W: 75 3/4 in.; D: 7 15/16 in.
Medium: Cast glass, copper, metal and wire
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Gift of Dorothy and George Saxe
Object number: 1991.138
Label Text:Swedish designer and sculptor Bertil Vallien began his series of metaphysical boats in the 1970s, first in clay and then in glass. Sand-casting became his preferred technique. Molten glass was ladled into a spade-cut sand mold that produced a rough exterior “skin” of the boat, emphasizing the light-absorbing ability of glass to encapsulate light within the sculpture. The smooth, transparent top surface permits views into an interior scattered with glass and symbolic metal artifacts in arrested suspension.
Vallien explains, “I chose the boat because it is such a beautiful shape –it contains both mystery and symbolism. The boat signifies a voyage, the Voyage of Life.” The arrow above the boat’s stylized passenger references the past and the future, speed and direction—the journey endlessly continuing, yet seemingly frozen in time.
Vallien explains, “I chose the boat because it is such a beautiful shape –it contains both mystery and symbolism. The boat signifies a voyage, the Voyage of Life.” The arrow above the boat’s stylized passenger references the past and the future, speed and direction—the journey endlessly continuing, yet seemingly frozen in time.
Not on view
In Collection(s)