Leopold Blaschka's 193th birthday

May 27, 1822, Leopold Blaschka was born. 
Thus, today we commemorate his life 
and achievements as a scientific artist.

New Home for Older Art

In 1987 I made, circling around the fragment "shards of space and granules time" a group of “memorials.” These were reliefs constructed from nondurable materials: painted collages of newsprint paper and paper-mâché on plywood. 

My moving to another house recently, resulted in an improvement in housing, but not so much in storage. Thus, I decided to cede  a selection of these earlier works – the ones that were still in good condition - to art lovers. I managed to find a place for several of these works in the offices of the Utrecht University Library,  the building where I work.

 

Een steen en een brood,  1987, Collage-Acryl (70 x 90 cm) 

The work “Een steen en een brood” / “A stone and a loaf of bread “  summarises a deep truth: punishment and nourishment alternate in a perpetual movement. This work went to a private home.

Donations to The Utrecht Archive

When packing my things in moving boxes, I refound two slideshows with sound. Both were dating back to 1982-1983. 

One of these shows deals with the fate of the Utrecht neighbourhood “Vaartse buurt” that was taken down in the early 1980ies in order to make room for social housing. Yet, the condition of the houses was still perfect and they only needed to be populated by smaller households. This, because  by the end of the 20^th century, it was recognised that working-class families needed more space than was granted them in the mid-19^th century. This slide-show is titled “Uit de Vaart Genomen” (“Taken out of service”).

The other show  summarises the conflicting interests and urban problems caused by parking and  lack of parking space, which seems to be chronic. In this story, we had two actors trying their skills at comedy. This show is titled “Doodlopende weg” (“Dead end street”).

I conferred with a co-author of these two slide shows, Matthes, with whom I am still in contact. We decided to offer the materials to the Utrecht Archive as a donation, which was accepted. In 1986 and 1989, watercolours I made were acquired as topography by the same Archive, Then, I could not fathom that later on, earlier photographical work - these slides - would follow suit. 

Leaving the asbestos behind and joining the bees

Bee study, 2012 watercolour, c. 14 x 10 cm 

July 2nd,2014, I reported the presence of asbestos in the house I lived in. By December the landlord still had not taken any action to solve this matter, and thus I decided to find another place, and I succeeded.  Since mid-March I live in a house adjacent to the communal garden “Bikkershof” (Click for website in Dutch). I feel deeply moved by the presence of three wooden beehives, where the insects are busy, flying to and fro.  I like to remind that the German artist Joseph Beuys (1921 – 1986) was taken away by the insight, that a principle of honey and milk in nature showed the possibility of unity among living things, transcending species boundaries. In his view the life of bees also exemplifies socialism as the insects live and work together. (Click here for more on Beuys on bees).

Plaster Cast Anatomical Foot

Professor Louise Fresco, scientist, director and writer, recently published the essay bundle “Kruisbestuiving” (ISBN 9789035142527). The translated title reads: Xenogamy. It hints at the new combinations of genetic properties that are created, when one plant pollinates the stamen in the flower of another. She recognises this as a metaphor for insights that emerge when mixing scientific knowledge, artistic observation and personal experience.  In one of her essays she expresses the desire to own a glass jellyfish model from the Blaschka  studio herself: 

  
("En als de Financial Times me nog eens vraagt: als kunstwerk wil ik graag een glazen model van een veelkleurige zeekwal van de Blaschka-collectie hebben" , in translation: “And in case the Financial Times should ask me once more: as a work of art I should like to possess  a glass model of a multi-coloured jelly-fish from the Blaschka Collection".)

Well, who would not? Join the club. In 1993 I was sent a single glass tentacle of a glass squid made by Blaschka, and that was all that remained of the collection of glass models of Bonn University. I added this orphaned tentacle from Bonn to the glass animals collection of the Utrecht University Museum,  yet I was tempted to  keep it for myself in order to display it at home. It would certainly have been a thrill, to own a piece of Blaschka glass myself.
The lost Bonn collection is not the only one missing. It happens ever so often: things and even complete collections get lost, also in museums and universities. Another example: for many years I tried to uncover a Parisian collection of Blaschka glass animals, but all my attempts hitherto were in vain.

Anatomical foot, plaster of Paris, 14x28x14 cm

Yet finally I own an educational model myself – be it a plaster one; not a glass one. October 14, 2014  I visited the “Atelier de Moulage” (Plaster Casting Studio) in Brussels, which is part of the organisation of the “Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire”. Then and there I ordered a plaster anatomical foot. It had to be cast first, but it was delivered last week and I was thrilled to unpack:

In the nineteenth century, many art museums used to have their own Casting Studio, and the exchange of plaster casts was a way of sharing knowledge of classical statues from ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece. Moreover, teaching aids were casted as well.

The Brussels studio is one out of three surviving institutions. The other two are based in Paris (Grand Palais) and Berlin (Gipsformerei; Staatliche Museen). 
See also the web site of the International Association for the Conservation and the Promotion of Plaster Cast Collections. 

 And if you prefer a glass animal: the skills of the Venice-based master glassworker Vittorio Costantini rival those of father and son Blaschka. Vittorio is in his seventies, and he is still going strong. His intricate glass fish, squid and beetles are awe inspiring. See Vittorio's website and gallery.

Kruisbestuiving / Fresco

Louise Fresco schrijft ergens in haar recent uitgekomen boek “Kruisbestuiving” (ISBN 9789035142527):  

“… wat ik tegenkom is een verfrommelde print van een glazen object. Ik kijk ernaar en herken het, zonder te weten hoe het in mijn zak komt: het is een van de handgeblazen zeedieren van Leopold en Rudolf Blaschka, Amerikaanse glaskunstenaars uit de negentiende eeuw, wier collectie delicaat gevormde modellen decennialang lag te verstoffen in een laboratorium.”

Dat Fresco als technische term“handgeblazen” verkiest boven "mondgeblazen" of het meer poëtische “voor de lamp geblazen” is naar mijn smaak een gemiste kans. 

Echt fout is: “ … Amerikaanse glaskunstenaars …”: Vader en zoon Blaschka zijn tot Sakser genaturaliseerd.  Oorspronkelijk zijn ze afkomstig uit het noorden van Bohemen, en het gezin vestigt zich in de jaren 60 van de 19e eeuw in Dresden. Daar zijn de glazen diermodellen gemaakt.

Slaat in “Kruisbestuiving” The Curse of the Glass Flowers of Harvard weer toe? Check your facts, Louise.

The Revolutions of 1989

Twenty Five years ago the Iron Curtain opened, the Berlin Wall fell, and my perception of Europe changed 180 degrees. Central Europe became the heart of the continent again. Also my studies in the history of science benefited from the new freedom when the borders opened: being able to travel to former eastern Germany again.

Dr U. Jordis from Vienna, who fell in love with the Glass Flowers of Harvard during a postdoc in Boston, went to Dresden to uncover the traces the Blaschkas left in Hosterwitz. He established contact with the last surviving member of the Blaschka family and accommodated subsequently, in 1993, the visit of representatives of Harvard (Susan Rossi-Wilcox) and the Corning Museum of Glass (David Whitehouse) to the home of the Blaschka family. On that occasion they managed to acquire the last remains of the Blaschka studio. I was lucky as to being allowed to study these materials from September 1995 onwards, and earlier, in April of that year I visited the Berlin Blaschka models. 

Communist Czechoslovakia had its revolution in 1989 as well, and later, in 1992, the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  In 1997 I made my first trip to Prague and then made new contacts, which would further my Frič studies.