‘Contemporary Glass Sculpture.’
Author: admin
At North Dallas home,
collectors’ passion for glass sculpture is clear
11:35 AM CST on Saturday, January 2, 2010
By HARRIET P. GROSS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News A large red chile pepper. A bust of an Egyptian pharaoh. A little girl’s party dress. What can these possibly have in common?
All are sculptures in glass, just three among an amazing variety in the ever-growing collection of Dallasites Dennis and Barbara DuBois.
Without exaggeration, the DuBois collection can be termed “museum quality.” Some 30 of their more than 320 pieces were viewed from March through July by 60,000 visitors to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Yale University Press published the catalog, Pioneers of Contemporary Glass.
Dennis and Barbara DuBois have more than 300 contemporary glass sculptures in their collection. They display about 275 in their home.
The word “pioneers” in the title refers to the modern artists represented in the exhibition. But it’s also an apt description of Dennis and Barbara themselves: pioneering collectors of a young medium in the old art world.
A few American artists, Dale Chihuly and Dan Dailey among them, studied and worked at the famed Venini factory in Murano, Italy, during the late 1950s, then brought their skills home to begin a new movement in the United States.
“Do not call this work ‘art glass,’ ” Dennis insists. “That makes it sound like a craft. This is fine art. Call it ‘contemporary glass sculpture.’ ” Of course, pieces by Chihuly, Dailey and other early modern glass masters are included among the many the DuBoises have acquired since they began collecting in 1986.
READ MORE @ http://www.jersetglassart.com
