Harvey Littleton: Technique is Dear

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Harvey Littleton: Technique is Dear

Artist Erwin Eisch (German, 1927 - 2022)

Place of OriginGlashütte Valentin Eisch, Frauenau, Germany

Date2004 (design of mold about 1976)

DimensionsH: 17 ½ in. (44.4 cm); W (Head, frontal): 8 5/8 in. (21.9 cm); W (Profile, max): 12 3/8 in. (31.4 cm)

MediumColorless glass; mold-blown, applied, blown, cut, engraved, ground, painted with unfired polychrome enamels and gold leaf.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of the artist

Object number

2008.125

Not on View

DescriptionThe hollow sculpture is blown of colorless glass in a two-part mold forming the head, neck, and square base of the portrait head. The mold seam remains visible as a relief line separating the front and back of the head. Once the molded glass shape is removed from the form, a large blob of molten glass is added to the area of the mouth and quickly blown out to a bubble. Once cooled, the head's square base rim is ground flat and the mouth bubble engraved with the words in capital letters 'Technique is dear" surrounded by straight lines forming a rectangle resembling a plaque. The head and neck of the sculpture is finally painted overall with noticeable brush strokes in dark blue and brown enamel paint. The inscription and framing line are gilded with gold leaf, leaving some of the red sizing visible beneath.

Label TextLittleton declared his famous dictum “Technique is cheap” at the 1972 National Sculpture Conference in Lawrence, Kansas. Littleton argued that in studio glass the end result and content should be emphasized over mastery of technique. As he had written the year before, “It is through the insatiable, adventurous urge of the artist to discover the essence of glass that his own means of expression will emerge.” His declaration sparked a debate in the studio glass world, with some coming down on the side of the long tradition of craftsmanship in glass, as suggested by Eisch’s playful title.Published ReferencesPage, Jutta-Annette, Peter Morrin, and Robert Bell, Color Ignited: Glass 1962-2012, Toledo, OH, 2012, p. 63, repr. (col.) p. 65, pl. 34.

Eisch-Angus, Katharina, Erwin Eisch: Wolken waren schon immer mein letzter Halt, Glas und Bilder = Clouds have been My Foothold All Along, Glass and Paintings, Munich, Hirmer Verlag, 2012, repr. (col.) p. 209.

Exhibition HistoryHabatat Galleries, Royal Oak, Michigan.

Toledo Museum of Art, Color Ignited: Glass 1962-2012, June 14-September 9, 2012.