Venetian Glass 1890 -1990

The Venetian art of glass-blowing, the longest-standing tradition of its kind in Europe, is spotlighted in this lovely, eye-catching volume, itself a work of art.
In her absorbing text accompanying some 200 color plates, Mentasti, a Venice-born historian of glass, follows a succession of styles from Art Nouveau through the Viennese Secession, Art Deco, the 1930s Novecento style with its transparent, simple forms, to the burst of creativity in the &60s and &70s and the contemporary return to color and representation. Gianni Toso&s satiric figurines, Alessandro Pianon&s blown-glass chicks with iron feet, Luciano Vistosi&s human skull sculpted out of green crystal and Napoleone Martinuzzi&s spirited pony in coral glass stand out among pieces that achieve dazzling effects through polychrome, enameling, latticework, iridescence and other techniques.