Blenko: American Art Glass 1940-1980
R 20th Century Gallery, New York, NY
www.r20thcentury.com
November 14, 2000 to January 25, 2001

Presented by R 20 th Century Gallery in TriBeCa, a design gallery renowned for its scholarly exhibitions of important modernist design, it was the first major public exhibition dealing exclusively with Blenko's historical production in a gallery setting outside of West Virginia. The extensive collection included many exceptional and rare examples of Blenko's work spanning from the 1940's through to the 1980's. The exhibition created significantly heightened public awareness of the importance of Historic Period Blenko glass.

An excerpt from the exhibition text:

In the forties Blenko Glass expanded its venerable reputation as a purveyor of boldly colorful glass tableware into that of one of the most forward-thinking firms in America . The first glass factory to hire a designer to produce unique, hand-blown pieces, Blenko became famous for its sculptural glass forms. They set themselves conspicuously apart with their commitment to non-functional decorative art glass.

Moving beyond the world of the traditional glass vessel and into that of the sculptural object, star designers like Winslow Anderson, Wayne Husted and Joel Philip Myers excelled at making glass for the sake of art.

R Gallery is pleased to feature the largest and most comprehensive collection of Blenko glass ever to be exhibited in New York . Each bottle represents a unique exploration of the craft, and the wide range of classic fifties and sixties colors, shapes and sizes.