Head VI
Artist: Stanislav Libenský (Czech, 1921-2002)
Artist: Jaroslava Brychtová (Czech, 1924 - 2020)
Date: 1986
Dimensions:
H: 21 in. (53.3 cm); W: 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm); D: 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm)
Medium: Mold-melted transparent blue glass; cut and polished.
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Purchased with funds given by Margy and Scott Trumbull
Object number: 2006.53
Label Text:Husband-and-wife team Jaroslava Brychtová and Stanislav Libenský are renowned, both individually and together, for sculptural glass that has exerted a lasting international influence throughout their long careers. Libenský would create charcoal drawings that Brychtová translated into three-dimensional clay models, which they would then compose in glass. Their tabletop sculptures, including this abstracted head, are characterized by an innovative use of internal space and complex union of color, form, and texture.
The couple’s devotion to glass goes beyond the realm of art and enters an almost spiritual dimension. In 1995 they wrote, “Glass allows us to build up a harmony between shapes and penetrating light, and to thus define the essence of light-space and to touch the secret of this space. Nevertheless, although glass is a prime medium for us, the character and the qualities of this material are something more than only a means of artistic expression.”
The couple’s devotion to glass goes beyond the realm of art and enters an almost spiritual dimension. In 1995 they wrote, “Glass allows us to build up a harmony between shapes and penetrating light, and to thus define the essence of light-space and to touch the secret of this space. Nevertheless, although glass is a prime medium for us, the character and the qualities of this material are something more than only a means of artistic expression.”
DescriptionTransparent blue-gray glass; chunks of glass melted in a mold, ground, polished. Massive solid cast abstract sculpture with modeled non-polished front side and flat back.
On view
In Collection(s)