VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents a MFAH Lecture: Adaptation and Innovation in Modern Czech Glass, 1900–1930, Monday, Nov 14, 2011, 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM. FREE. Presented by Diane C. Wright, adjunct professor at Rhode Island School of Design, at Parsons The New School for Design, New York, and at George Mason University, Virginia; and former Marcia Brady Tucker Senior Curatorial Fellow at the Yale University Art Gallery.

Glassmaking, a tradition deeply rooted in industry and the creative efforts of chemists, craftsmen, and designers, flourished in Bohemia (today the Czech Republic) from the fourteenth century, reaching its zenith from the end of the nineteenth century through the 1930s.

The Roy and Mary Cullen Collection richly illustrates the adaptations and innovations in early-twentieth-century Czech glass. During this seminal period, Czech glass underwent significant artistic and technical changes, in part due to influences from abroad. Diane C. Wright looks at the evolution of Czech glass from 1900 to 1930 against the backdrop of glass traditions in central Europe during this distinguished period of glassmaking history.

New Formations: Czech Avant-Garde Art and Modern Glass from the Roy and Mary Cullen Collection is on view November 6, 2011–February 5, 2012.

This Lecture is cosponsored by Design Council at the MFAH. Admission is free and open to the public. A reception to meet the speaker follows the program.

Pictured:  Johann Lötz Witwe, Vase, 1908, glass, collection of Roy and Mary Cullen.