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l e a r n
t h e
r u l e
t o
b r e a k
t h e
r u l e s
Books
Tracing a
Movement
Voices of Contemporary
Glass: The Heineman
Collection
B y Tina O ldknow , contribu-
tion by Cristine Russell
T he Com ing Museum o f Glass
C orning, N ew Y o rk
cm og.org
Hudson Hills Press
M anchester, V erm ont
$85
hudsonhills.com
T h e Chicago philanthropist
Ben W . Heineman Sr. pur-
chased his first w ork o f con-
tem porary glass, a H arvey
Littleton sculpture, in 1984,
and w as immediately hooked.
For more than 20 years there-
after, Heineman and his w ife,
N atalie, continued to collect
glass, w ith an emphasis on
abstraction, ultimately assem-
bling 240 objects, including
M ary Shaffer’s
Orange26
M S
037
Q .
The collection is a
nearly complete chronology'
o f the Am erican studio glass
m ovem ent, though it also in-
cludes international artists.
In 2006, the Heinemans
donated their collection to the
C orning M useum o f Glass,
w here it is now on view
through January'3,2010. Rath-
er than donate to a general art
museum, as did a number o f
collectors o f craft-related ma-
terials, the Heinemans w ere
determined to see their trea-
sures housed in an institution
com m itted to the preserva-
tion, documentation and dis-
play o f glass.
This handsome volum e
presenting the entire collec-
tion sheds light on the H eine-
mans’ acquisition process and
dem onstrates the develop-
ment o f contemporary' glass
over more than three decades.
Follow ing Cristine Russell’s
biographical sketch o f the
Heinemans, Tina O ldknow ,
curator o f modern glass at
Corning, discusses Ben Hei-
neman’s approach to acquisi-
tion and his taste. This visual
chronicle reflects the rapid
rate at w hich the couple ac-
quired, as w ell as their amass-
ing o f “ subcollections” o f
pieces by particular artists,
among them studio glass pio-
neers M ark Peiser, D avid
Huchthausen, D ale Chihuly
and Joel Philip My'ers.
In the “ A rtists and A rt-
w orks” section, the heart o f
the book, the objects in the
collection are shown along
w ith portraits o f the artists
and quotations, “voices,” o f-
ten those o f the artist but just
as often those o f curators, his-
torians or art critics—all
amounting to a stylish family'
album o f the studio glass
movement and those involved
w ith this international phe-
nomenon. Reflecting the high
quality o f the Heineman C ol-
lection and the commitment
o f the C orning M useum , this
book w ill surely be a signifi-
cant resource in unpacking
this recent history.—
b .s .
Oregon college o;
art and craft
