Charles P. Limbert (American, 1854–1923). Advertising Lamp, c. 1910. Slag glass on oak base, 19 x 24 x 16 inches. Grand Rapids Art Museum. Cummings, Frank and Ann Battistella Fund, Porter Foundation, 2004.18.
The art and design objects assembled in this exhibition, all from GRAM’s permanent collection, demonstrate the material diversity of glass, with variable and unique physical characteristics one can look at, into, and through.
Glass provides numerous formal and conceptual possibilities for realist painters, who embrace the challenge of capturing the interactions of light with glass and the resultant reflections and optical distortions. Photographers use the glass lens of a camera to create their own realities, sometimes far removed from how the human eye views the world. Designers and artisans are drawn to glass’s chameleon-like ability to assume a variety of textures, colors and treatments, and for its capacity to be transparent, translucent, or opaque.
Installation Photography
