Posted on February 16, 2021 at 2:00 PM by Adrienne Gennett
Lino Tagliapietra is one of the most important living glassmakers in the world. His masterful prowess of the material is undeniable and his works of art are included in the most prominent international museums that collect glass.
Born in Murano, the Italian island where Venetian glass has been made for centuries, he became an apprentice glassblower at the age of 11 and at the age of 21 was already considered a "Maestro", a title only given to the very best glassmakers.
In 1979, he traveled to Seattle and began to introduce a new generation of American glassmakers to Venetian techniques that have informed the art of many of those now well-known glassmakers.
As University Museums continues to expand the encyclopedic glass collection, the inclusion of Tagliapietra helps to broaden the depth of the contemporary glass collection, along with adding an Italian glassmaker, an area of the collection that needs further development. The addition of Angel Tear 02471 by Tagliapietra greatly enhances the entire collection, while also connecting with the few examples of 16th and 17th century Venetian glass donated by Henry and Ann Brunnier, as the techniques used are the same, but with a contemporary style.
Angel Tear 02471 is currently on exhibition in Recent Acquisitions, in the Lori A. Jacobson Gallery of the Brunnier Art Museum through July 23.
BELOW: Angel Tear 02471, 2017 by Lino Tagliapietra (Italian, b. 1934). Blown glass. Purchased by University Museums with funds from the Joyce Tomlinson Brewer Fund for Art Acquisition and the Edward D. Sheridan Memorial Fund. In the permanent collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. UM2020.36
