ANNUAL NEWSLETTER, 2011
REPORT ON THE 2011 ICOM GLASS COMMITTEE MEETING IN SPAIN
BARCELONA, LA GRANJA AND MADRID
MAY 30-June 4, 2011
The 2011 Annual Meeting was organized by the Archaeological Museum of Catalunya and The Royal Glass Factory of La Granja.
A total of 25 participants attended the conference, representing Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Norway, Spain and USA.
Monday, May 30
The official opening of the meeting took place in the morning in the Library of the Museu d´Arqueologia de Catalunya, by Xavier Llovera and Teresa Carreras, Director and Curator of the Museum, and Paloma Pastor, Chair of ICOM Glass.
The official introduction was followed by a tour of the museum to see the new permanent glass collection La fragilidad en el tiempo. El Vidrio en la Antigüedad and the Amatller glass collection Ánimes de Vidre. Les collections Amatller guided by Teresa Carreras and Paloma Pastor. After these interesting visits we had the papers, presented by eleven speakers of the ICOM Glass Committee, with the topic “Glass Collections in Spain”.
The Board met in mid-day, and the General Assembly was in the afternoon. The group is enthusiastic about coming to the U.S. next year. Then, a reception in “Pueblo Español” (Spanish Village) by the director Jorge Bernáldez left over from the 1937 World’s Fair, when we visit the Luesma-Vega Studio-Show Room, located at the Carmelitas de Aragon Church to see a group of glass pieces from a selected group of artist, with a refreshing cup of cava, We met different artist as Pilar Aldana-Méndez, Philippa Beberidge, Maribel Navarro, Anna Marco, Monica Uz, Yukiko Murata, Merixell Tembleque and Joaquim Falcó, Javier Vidal, Miguel de Diego, Ferran Collado and Nuria Torrent
Tuesday, May 31
We visited Sagrada Familia Cathedral, the Gaudi one, which has been nearly finished now. We had the opportunity to meet Antoni Vila Delclòs, Director of Corpus Vitrearum of Catalunya, the person that is doing the stained glasses of the Cathedral. After a very interesting conference by him we visited the stained glasses at the upper floors of the Cathedral. The cathedral windows are geometric stained glass in an abstract style, following the Gaudí project.
Then we went to the Palau Reial of Pedralbes to see the Museum of Decorative Arts, which had a good permanent glass collection. Thanks to Jordi Carreras we had the opportunity to see the museum´s storerooms with one of the best Spanish glass collections.
A special highlight of the day was also the Pedralbes 14th century Monastery. Thanks to Monserrat Puges, coservator of the Museu d´Historia de la Ciutat, and Mª José Alcayde we visited with detail the Monastery with extensive stained glass, although it’s mostly 19th century, even the monastic enclosure spaces.
The group concluded the day with a fantastic farewell dinner at a restaurant reserved for all of us.
Wednesday, June 1
The group got on a bus and drove for two hours to Girona Province to see the City of Ampuries, one of the most important Spanish archaeological site, a Greco-Roman village, a sea port dating from the 3rd century B.C. -1st century A.D. Accompanied by the director of the archaeological site, we saw some of the glass finds, a small glass collection, but nice and interesting of the Roman and Pre Roman period.
After a refreshing lunch at the restaurant of the archaeological site, we visited the Museu Castell of Peralada by Jaime Barrachina, curator of the museum, with a wine museum and a very interesting glass collection, Mateu family property. We have the opportunity to visit the private rooms of the Castell. We finished with a refreshing glass of wine and then drove back to Barcelona.
Thursday, June 2: Post-Congress Tour.
We went by train to Segovia, and by taxis to La Granja de San Ildefonso, which is 5 miles from Segovia. The president of the Royal Glass Factory, Francisco Salazar-Simpson Bos and his wife hosted an elegant dinner for the group, a nice end to our day.
Friday, June 3
We spent more than an hour in the SGD La Granja Glass Factory, which was fascinating, and saw them make a number of types of bottles. Then we went to Paloma’s museum and saw her collection – which is much larger than I remembered with a bigger collection of international art glass – contemporary, including Libensky – and one by Eric Meek. The 18th and 19th century glass in Spanish, Bohemian and a little French and English. There is also a big display of machinery. We spent 2 hours there, then, after lunch, a great tour of the royal palace by the curator Victoria Muñoz, then a walking tour of 15th century Segovia and the Roman aqueduct by María Barrio, Official guide of Diputación of Segovia and finally a nice tapas dinner.
Saturday, June 4
We went by bus to Madrid but we saw the MAVA, The Alcorcón Contemporary Glass Museum on the way there, accompanied by the director of the museum, María Luisa Martínez. Then we visited the Decorative Arts Museum, by the director of the museum and President of ICOM Glass in Spain, Sofía Rodríguez Bernis, where we visit the collections of La Granja Glass, and we had the opportunity to see the storerooms of the museum. After the lunch we were by bus to the Royal Palace. Cristina Mur de Viu, Glass Curator, met us at the Palace, in spite of the weekend. We had a very interesting trip through the palace, which has a stunning collection of chandeliers, mostly 19th century I think, including one which looks like a ship, wonderful collections of mirrors made in the Royal Glass Factory in the eighteenth century, furniture, clocks porcelain, painting, etc. Exceptionally we visited also the private rooms of the King, usually closed to the public.
Then, at 6, we got back to the center of town and the bus left us literally in front of our hotel. Both the Congress and the Tour were very well organized and we saw the most important glass collections in Spain.
REPORT ON THE 2010 ICOM GLASS COMMITTEE MEETING IN FINLAND AND TALLIN
In 2010 we held two major meetings, the Meeting of ICOM Glass in Finland and Tallin in September, and The Joint Meeting and ICOM General Conference in Shanghai in November. These were two interesting meeting that we have the pleasure of summarizing below.
The ICOM Glass Meeting in Finland and Estonia
The ICOM Glass Meeting was held, September 6-10, in Finland and Estonia, thanks to Kasia Koivisto and Heikki Matiskainen, chief curator and director of the Finnish Glass Museum. They organized an exciting program for all of us during the week. We had a really interesting meeting that allowed us to deepen our knowledge of the art and design of Finnish and Scandinavian glass.
The meeting was attended by 23 people from 13 different countries.
The opening registration and welcome reception by Paloma Pastor and Kaisa Koivisto took place at the Design Museum, in Helsinki, followed by an interesting visit to the Oiva Toika exhibition let by the artist. We had an excellent opportunity to meet him and get to know his interesting works.
After lunch, we visited the House of Parliament, one of the most important examples of Finnish arts and crafts in late 1920. In the late afternoon we visited the Design Forum, where we could see an interesting exhibition of Finnish design on glass.
The next day we visited the 11th collection exhibition of the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, The common thing (Finnish and Swedish Contemporary Arts), It´s a set-up, and the Aalto University School of Art and Design in Helsinki. Kirsti Taiviola explained to us in detail the workshops, masters and courses they offer in the University.
After the lunch, offered by the University of Art and Design, we visited Arabia factory and Arabia Museum, where we know the history and evolution of this famous ceramics factory, one of the finest examples of modern Finish design. In the late afternoon we went by bus to Riihimäki, where we had an unforgettable dinner offered by the Mayor of Riihimäki Mr. Seppo Keskiruokanen.
On Wednesday, we had the lectures in the Finnish Glass Museum around the topic Finnish Glass in Scandinavian Context, presented by Hekki Matiskainen, Director of the Museum.
Heikki Matiskainen started the lectures. He presented an interesting analytical investigation of fragments from several Middle European glass factories. Kaisa Koivisto spoke about the changes in Finnish glass since the 1980’s, when the Finnish Glass Lives exhibitions began to be staged by the Finnish Glass Museum. Uta Lauren spoke of the life and creations of one of the most important Finnish glass artist-designers, Helena Tynell, and her connection with Riihimäki Glasswork and The BEGA Company of Germany. Gunnel Holmer spoke about glass production in Sweden from 16th century and its dependence on immigrants from German speaking countries, Greece, Yugoslavia, etc., She explained why the managers at Kosta Glassworks employed workers from abroad, and she give interesting answers to several questions. Micael Ernstell presented the theme “Glassmaking in and around Stockholm 1670-1700”. Anders Reihnér, spoke about the artist and designer Edvin Ollers, who started a new era in Sweden. He showed the Edvin Ollers glasses which were bought at an auction in 1973, in Stockholm, and were given in 1995 to the Finnish Glass Museum. Inger Helene Stemshaug spoked of Sverre Pettersen (1884-1959), a designer that work at Hadelands Glasswork and reintroduced engraving as a form of decoration in Norwegian glass. Anne Tiivel told us about the history of Stonian Glass, Teresa Médici talked about the Master of Glass Art and Science by the Faculty of Sciences and Technology (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and the Faculty of Fine Arts. Joze Rataj spoke of Raoul Goldoni, one of the most prominent designers in glass in Yugoslavia, in the second half of the 20th century. Finally, Marketa Vejrostova spoke about the production of S. Reich &Company and J. Schreiber & Neffer Company during the second half of the 19th century in the context of Czech and Middle-European glass manufacturing.
After the lunch, offered by the Finnish Glass Museum, we had the General Assembly of ICOM Glass, where we discussed the different topics listed below. Then Kaisa Koivisto led an interesting visit to the Finnish Glass Museum’s permanent exhibition, and The Riihimäki Glassworks 100 years anniversary exhibition. Finally, we made a walking tour of the former Riihimäki glassworks site, where we learned about the Pekka Paunila Glass Studio and the Glassism Studio. The Friends of the Finnish Glass Museum Association offered us a reception at the Hunting Museum of Finland.
On Thursday, we went by bus to Iittala, to visit the Iittala Glass Museum and the Factory. After the lunch, offered by Iittala Group, we went by bus to Nuutajärvi, and we saw Nuutajärvi Glass Museum, Nutajärvi factory, The Glass School Tavastia, NuGO´s (Nuutajärvi Gallery Cooperative) led by Sara Hulkkonein, the Summer exhibition Jukebox, several workshops and galleries of the local glass artists, like Alma Jantunen, Johannes Rantasalo, Anu Penttinen, Markku Salo or Lea Swant.
On Friday we went by boat to Tallin in Estonia. Anne Tiive gave us a special visit walking around the old town and the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design.
Finally we had a nice and unforgettable farewell lunch in Kohvik Moon, offered by the ICOM Glass.
The 22nd General Conference and the 25th General Assembly of ICOM, 2010. Museums for Social Harmony. 7th to 12th November.
Conference Centre, World Expo Site, Shanghai
DEMHIST / GLASS / ICDAD / ICFA (in association with ICOM China)
Joint meeting and symposium – Tuesday 9th November
From Silk Road to Container Ship: artefacts, environment and cultural transfer
The ICOM General Conference and the Joint meeting were held in Shanghai, thanks to the Chinese Organizing Committee. It was an unforgettable meeting for all of us during one week. The Meeting was attended by more than 3.600 museum professionals representing 122 countries. The beautiful welcome reception was hosted in the Expo-center banquet hall.
This Triennal General Conference of ICOM, allowed museum professionals to exchange ideas and experiences, promoting mutual understanding and friendship between institutions.
Under the theme of “Museum for social harmony” this platform promoted dialogue and communications, coexistence and development among civilizations and the positive role museums play in promoting the construction of a harmonious world.
The program included keynote speeches, museum trade fair and open forum, as well as committee activities of ICOM.
http://archives.icom.museum/general-conference2010.html
On Monday 8 November, the ICOM Glass Meeting was held. The welcome reception by Paloma Pastor and professor Xiaowei Zhuang took place at Conference Centre, World Expo Site, Shanghai. Paloma Pastor informed the participants about the recent meeting hosted in Finland and Tallin, and proposed to hold the next ICOM Glass Meeting in Spain, (Barcelona and La Granja, Segovia). All the participants supported this proposal.
Joint Meeting and Symposium DEMHIST /GLASS / ICDAD / ICFA (in association with ICOM China):
Four of ICOM’s International Committees - DEMHIST, GLASS, ICDAD and ICFA – organized an interesting joint symposium to discuss historical and contemporary
perspectives of artistic exchange. Topics included Eastern influence on European architecture and garden design, as well as the fine and decorative arts, in addition to the impact of Western architecture in modern China and vice-versa. Fundamental themes such as exploration and migration, and stylistic phenomena such as “Chinoiserie”, were explored in the presentations. It was a successful Joint Meeting, thanks professor Xiaowei Zhuang (Director, Shanghai Museum of Glass) and Stephen Lloyd (Symposium Co-ordinator and former Chair ICFA).
Programme
Welcome: Stephen Lloyd (Symposium Co-ordinator and former Chair ICFA)
Introduction 1: Daniela Ball (Chair DEMIHIST)
Keynote Paper 1: Christiaan J. A. Jörg (Emeritus Professor of History of Art, Leiden University) Chinese Export Porcelain as a bridge between East and West
Introduction 2: Giuliana Ericani (Chair ICFA)
Keynote Paper 2: Robert Bickers (Professor of History, University of Bristol)
Moving Stories: Statues and Monuments in Treaty Port Shanghai from the 1860s to 1945.
Introduction 3: Wolfgang Schepers (Director, Museum August Kestner, Hannover) on behalf of Rainald Franz (Chair ICDAD)
Keynote Paper 3: Johannes Wieninger (Head of Asia Department, MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Art / Contemporary Art, Vienna), The Ideal Museum: World Cultures or boundary-less World Culture
Introduction 4: Paloma Pastor (Chair GLASS)
Keynote Paper 4: Zhuang Xiaowei (Director, Shanghai Museum of Glass)
Shanghai Museum of Glass: a story of cultural interchange between China and the West
Session Chair: Daniela Ball (Director, Zug Castle)
Plenary Paper 1: Rui Oliveira Lopes (Research Centre of Sciences of Art and Heritage – Francisco de Holanda, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon)
From symbolic gestures to translation of meanings: the confluence of Christian art in China between the 7th and 14th centuries
Plenary Paper 2: Giuliana Ericani (Director, Museo Biblioteca Archivio, Bassano del Grappa)
China in ‘Cups of Coffee’: the state of studies on relations between China and Italy from the 15th to 18th Centuries – from historical and ideological premises to artistic expression
Plemary Paper 3: Samantha Fabry (Chair ICOM Malta)
Antique Chinese Ceramics from the Magistral Palace of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (Rome) and Maltese Collections
Plenary Paper 4: Catherine L. Futter (Curator of Decorative Arts, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City) - with John Twilley
Chinoiserie in northern Italy: Japanned decoration and French print sources in a rare 18th-century gabinetto in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Session Chair: Wolfgang Schepers, (Director, Museum August Kestner, Hannover) on behalf of Rainald Franz (Chair ICDAD)
Plenary Paper 5: Paloma Pastor (Director, Fundación Centro Nacional del Vidrio, La Granja de San Ildefonso, Segovia) and Milan Hlaves (Senior Curator, Head of Glass and Ceramics, Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague), A short introduction to Chinoiserie glass in Europe during the 16th to the 19th centuries
Plenary Paper 6: Foo Su Ling (National University of Singapore Museum)
Design Hybridity and Colonial Influences: surveying the European decorative tiles in the Baba House (National University of Singapore)
Plenary Paper 7: Gianluca Kannès (Settore Musei e Patrimonio Culturale della Regione Piemonte, Turin), Emperor Bao Dai’s residence at Dalat in Vietnam
Wednesday 10th November 2010
The Shanghai Museum of Glass. On Wednesday 10 November, DEMHIST / GLASS / ICDAD / ICFA visitedThe Shanghai Museum, and the Shanghai Art Museum. In the afternoon, the participants of the Joint Committee Meeting were invited to visit the Shanghai Museum of Glass, ( 685 Changjiang Xi Road). Thanks to professor Xiaowei Zhuang, we had the good opportunity to know, before the official opening reception, the new Shanghai Museum of Glass, a huge project of great interest for all of our glass colleagues, that will be open next year. We are sure it will have an excellent success.
After this reception, the participant of EMHIST / GLASS / ICDAD / ICFA went to a local restaurant for a nice dinner, offered by the Shanghai Museum of Glass.