The Corning Museum of Glass has awarded grants in 2010 to fund research projects studying European vessel glass and designs for glass by Belgian sculptor Yvonne Serruys.
Dr. Jerzy J. Kunicki-Goldfing…
The Corning Museum of Glass has awarded grants in 2010 to fund research projects studying European vessel glass and designs for glass by Belgian sculptor Yvonne Serruys. Dr. Jerzy J. Kunicki-Goldfinger, a researcher of historical glass at the School of History and Archaeology at Cardiff University, will receive a grant for his study of vessel glass from central Europe in the late medieval period to the end of the preindustrial era. Kunicki-Goldfinger, who is taking a materials science approach to his subject, intends to publish a book based on his research. It will offer, he says, a comprehensive introduction to the technological and compositional development of vessel glass in central EuropeIt will outline the basic types of glass composition, their historical development, and [their] geographical distribution. Until now, there has been no comprehensive study, written from the material scientist“s point of view, covering glass originating from this period and area. Kunicki-Goldfinger received his Ph.D. in conservation from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toru, Poland. From 1999 to 2007, he was head of research on historical glass at the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology in Warsaw. He has been studying historical glass at Cardiff University since 2008. A professor of 19th century art at Ghent University, Dr. Marjan Sterckx will receive a grant to assist her research on the designs of Belgian sculptor Yvonne Serruys (1873-1953). Between about 1905 and 1910, Serruys designed models for more than 300 objects to be made in pte de verre and blown glass by the factory of Georges Despret (1862-1952) in Jeumont, France. Despret was a pioneer of the pte de verre technique, which was used for both decorative and functional objects. Sterckx says she discovered this intriguing, but little-known, aspect of Serruys“s work while she was writing her master“s thesis on the artist. Most of the art objects she has found that are signed or stamped by Serruys and Despret are vases and plates that reflect the influence of Art Nouveau and japonisme. Sterckx expects her research to lead to new knowledge and insightson the collaboration of artists/sculptors and glass factories, and on the fashion for glass-paste objects during the belle poque. Sterckx“s dissertation on female sculptors in Paris, London and Brussels from 1770 to 1953 was awarded the 2009 Prize for Human Sciences by the Academische Stichting Leuven in Belgium. She received her Ph.D. in art history from Leuven University. Following her postdoctoral work at that university, she was a lecturer in art history and has been a professor at Ghent University since October 2009. The Rakow Grant for Glass Research was founded by the late Dr. and Mrs. Leonard S. Rakow. It is awarded annually to support scholarly research on the history of glass and glassmaking.