Pictured at the Schantz Galleries exhibition at SOFA Chicago 2011: Lino Tagliapietra, George, 1999. H 60 1/4, W 30, D 1 in. $300,000. courtesy: schantz galleries
The $300,000 sale of a 5-foot-tall glass panel by Lino Tagliapietra entitled George (1999) at SOFA Chicago last November has been finalized. The selection committee at Chazen Museum of Art at University of Wisconsin, Madison has approved the decision late last week to acquire this work for their permanent collection. It is the largest sum for a single Tagliapietra work that Schantz Galleries has sold, and the Stockbridge, Massachussetts, gallery has handled many of the largest sales of the Italian maestro’s work. This unique panel entitled George had been exhibited in the Museum of Glass in Tacoma’s major Tagliapietra retrospective in 2008. It as made using an innovative approach utilizing large-scale murini formed with Bullseye glass that Tagliapietra has been working wth again in a recent series of vessels and wall panels.
In a recent interview with the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet, Tagliapietra discussed his experiences working with Bullseye Glass. “They have very beautiful colors,” Tagliapietra said shortly before he revisited the techniques used in the George panel for a new series of work. “It won’t be strictly blowing, but mixed media using blowing, fusing, something like a roll-up is possible, but not exactly.”