OPENING: Corning to exhibit the lesser-known invertebrate sculptures by the Blaschkas

The father-and-son team of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, famous for their lampworked glass flowers that make up the Ware Collection at Harvard, were better known in their day for their models of sea creatures. While their flowers are what gives them the most contemporary attention, such as the recent "Lifeforms" exhibition of realistic work at Pittsburgh Glass Center in which the German model-makers are cited as inspiration for a juried show, a new exhibition opening in May at The Corning Museum of Glass will put the focus on their models of sea creatures. More than 70 Blaschka invertebrate sea creatures, drawn mostly from the collection of the Cornell University Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, will be on view, as well as numerous drawings and instruments used to craft these finely detailed objects.

Opening on May 14th and running through January 8, 2017, the exhibition will be supplemented by videos and information about glass conservation and marine ecology. Special exhibition cases will create an undersea atmosphere in which to contemplate these unique sea creatures

“As CMoG is the world’s premier institution for the study of glass, we’re proud to exhibit Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka’s stunning marine creations. Their innovative work has impacted art and science for generations, and still inspires artists and scientists today,” said exhibition co-curator Dr. Marvin Bolt, who also holds the title of curator of science and technology. "In addition to illustrating the connections between the Blaschkas and marine biology research, the exhibition will look at the tools, techniques, and processes used to develop these unparalleled models.” 

While best-known for flowers, the Blaschkas actually started out making the sea forms, which they created for an exhibition at the Natural History Museum in Dresden in the late nineteenth century. This exhibition led to inquiries from universities which began ordering invertebrates and later flowers for use as models for study. Interestingly, the works from the Cornell collection fell into disuse after the development of high quality underwater photography allowed students to observe these creatures in their natural environments. Corning has performed restoration on the works on view, conservators researching other models in other collections to understand how they were originally presented.

“The fragile, intricately detailed, and colorful sea creatures on view—including anemones, octopi, sea snakes, sea stars, and even sea slugs—will illustrate the Blaschkas’ still-unmatched expertise with glass as a medium, while also transporting audiences to a hidden world beneath the sea more than 100 years ago,” added Alexandra Ruggiero, the exhibition’s co-curator and CMoG curatorial assistant. “The fragility of both the sea creatures and the glass models motivated our efforts to highlight stories of marine and glass conservation within the exhibition.”

CMoG’s longstanding relationship with Cornell is featured in a forthcoming documentary, also titled Fragile Legacy. Dr. Drew Harvell, a marine biologist in Cornell’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the curator of the Cornell collection of Blaschka glass, has joined underwater filmmaker David O. Brown on a quest to film living examples of the invertebrates that appear in Cornell’s collection of Blaschka models. The award-winning film will have its public premiere at the Museum in tandem with the exhibition opening. Excerpted clips will bring to life selected Blaschka models and drawings. 

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