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Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: obscurities on December 18, 2012, 11:56:32 PM

Title: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: obscurities on December 18, 2012, 11:56:32 PM
These vases were photographed at the museum in Jablonec, and the images kindly provided to me by a friend interested in my research. What these show is a pair of vases that are Franz Welz. The time frame is 1931. 

The manner of these vases stylistically represents the Futurism Movement, which was reasonably short lived. The style of these vases, at least to me, is a reasonable artistic continuation of what appears to me to be the company direction...... leading edge in terms of decors, color combinations, and now in terms of Art itself......

The school where it appears these were produced was in Kamenický Šenov, and the vases not only bear a previously unknown Welz label, but the red example also exhibits a label reading Steinschönau with the letters F & S on the label also. The initials F&S simply represent Fachschule, which means Technical College in German. Steinschönau is simply German for Kamenický Šenov. This label may provide a clue to the possibility that Welz also marketed and sold glass in Germany. It is unknown to me if the School designed and produced the pieces, or if the design was supplied by Welz, and the school simply produced it these examples. It could also represent a piece that Welz produced and the school label is to give recognition to the origins of the design.... Maybe at some point we will know....

These are surely among the greatest examples of Deco Czech glass production I have ever seen, and not just because they are Welz. I have collected Art Deco for years, and these are stunning examples of what the period brought forth.
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: keith on December 19, 2012, 12:37:07 AM
What a find Craig and what glass,wouldn't say no to one of those! ;D ;D
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: obscurities on December 19, 2012, 12:40:12 AM
I would love to find one of these somewhere......  Either color...  :-)    I am not that picky....

Craig
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: Frank on December 19, 2012, 12:57:04 AM
Stunning!
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: langhaugh on December 19, 2012, 01:48:35 AM
Wow, Craig, they're fabulous. Pity they're not likely to show up in the Pacific Northwest. I hadn't known Futurism had much of a life outside of Italy after WWI ended.

David
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: Lustrousstone on December 19, 2012, 07:39:43 AM
Wow, very reminiscent of some German ceramics  :o
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: flying free on December 19, 2012, 08:16:02 AM
They are wonderful and remind me of Nicolai Suetin's ceramics.
m
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: rocco on December 19, 2012, 08:41:25 AM
Wow, very reminiscent of some German ceramics  :o

Yes, google the term "Spritzdekor", a style very popular in German ceramics late 1920s / early 1930s.

Michael
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: chopin-liszt on December 19, 2012, 10:32:52 AM
And my first thought was they're very like Carltonware "Jazz" (pre-1927 - and about the most desirable pattern there is).

Stunning,  8) I didn't know such stuff existed on glass - thank-you so much for showing us!
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: dirk. on December 19, 2012, 11:49:29 AM
Wow! Funny - I photographed them, but it seems they were just to special for me to recognise
them as Welz...  ;D
https://picasaweb.google.com/108140812446658939096/CzechTrip?authkey=Gv1sRgCNz6s9vqyMSeRQ#5643731812381191986
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: bfg on December 19, 2012, 02:04:34 PM
thanks for sharing - I have a serious crush on those two  :-*

mel

**modified to say I'm kissing the glass  ;)
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: obscurities on December 19, 2012, 03:15:58 PM
Dirk.....  that is hilarious....  I would have thought you would have seen that......
Sue.....  I did not know it could be found on glass either... These are certainly quite special.....   The fact that they have a Welz label on them is just an extra bonus for me....
Rocco.....  I love the Spritzdekor stuff.... always have... I collect Art Deco and am drawn to those types of decors....
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: Fuhrman Glass on December 19, 2012, 04:44:56 PM
Very nice pieces. They really look like they are derivatives from some of Kandinsky"s prints and paintings. There was a lot of "new" stuff coming out of this entire area during this time. The Bauhaus didn't have a glass dept. except for flat glass i.e. Josef Albers, but these look like they could have been heavily influenced by some of their designs that they made in graphics and ceramics.
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: chopin-liszt on December 19, 2012, 05:28:57 PM
I adore Kandinsky, but would not have thought of him as the inspiration at all... Miro, perhaps.  ;D
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: John Smith on December 19, 2012, 05:57:32 PM
... I have more than just shelf-space for those beauties. WHAT a find! Not seen anything like 'em before.      "Where There's A Welz There's A Way"
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: obscurities on December 19, 2012, 06:51:43 PM
I am incredibly saddened and completely depressed now, knowing that they exist, and I do not have one..... This really is a very unfair world.....

I have to agree with Kandinsky.... Miro was, at least to me, more busy, while Kandinsky was articulate and geometrically defined in many of pieces....

Kandinsky image 1st, Miro image 2nd.... 
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: John Smith on December 19, 2012, 07:06:48 PM
... Was Welz, born and raised in Uptown Miami... perhaps?  lol
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: obscurities on December 19, 2012, 07:46:44 PM
:-)
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: Fuhrman Glass on December 20, 2012, 04:07:49 PM
I'd be interested to see the actual pieces to see what techniques were used to achieve this look. Were they enameled? painted? cut and back filled? How did they keep the narrow black lines if this was done when it was blown? Looks like a texture of glue chipping in the back ground? Was some of it overlay and cut away or etched away? Inquiring minds want to know? any ideas?
Looks like a multitude of different techniques used to achieve this great look.
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: obscurities on December 20, 2012, 04:34:21 PM
I have some huge file size images of these. (2800 x 4800 - 14 megs) In looking at detail the area with texture appears to be ACB of some sort. The clean edge between that area and the untextured surfaces makes me think that. Chipping would not allow for such a definitive and clean edge....  At least that is my understanding. I suppose it is also possible that they cur back the surface for the outline of the glue chip area and then performed the technique. It appears that was the first step in the process. After that it appears that the enamel work was applied. In the case of the enamel in the textured areas, I can see the surface texture in the enamel in my images....  It also appears that all of the enamel is surface application on the smooth areas and I can see some feathering on some of the enamel edges, indicating that there was likely some form of tape, or tape stencil applied for each step of color......  It appears to be a very challenging piece to have produced....  The more I study them, the more I love them.....

Image of some of the details attached....
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: John Smith on December 20, 2012, 06:06:52 PM
.. I totally agree. There are so many working procedures going on upon these pieces. They are quite incredible.
I would like to 'feel' the glass. At first glance, it seems like the round motifs (for example) were worked separately, wafer-thin, and then applied, but then again the straight lined decoration bleeds out onto the body of the vase and so these must have surely been the last working procedure upon the round discs? It "could" be cold enamel, painted on afterwards. but again this just a guess. A tubular cutting tool could have again been used to grind the disc shapes. They certainly look to be cut, and in places even crudely. The brain-coral like bands of frosting, look to me to be acid bathed, having used a resist which was engraved into by hand at random. It is the various thicknesses of these vases which have me thinking... They are unquestionably the works of genius, with a total understanding of their craft. Simply gorgeous.  PRICELESS even. Thanks so much for sharing them with us. J
Title: Re: Welz Strikes Again - And WOW is this a Statement!! Futurism in Glass
Post by: Fuhrman Glass on December 21, 2012, 07:09:27 PM
detail 2 appears to me that the texture was definitely glue chipped. nice edges were achieved by using wax resists. possibly much of the other reliefs were done by using multiple etchings and wax resists  to achieve this look. With wax you can get extremely fine details. I still have a few etched plates that were used to pick up wax designs from and that were then tranferred to the glass and then etched.  There are definitely a lot of very fine coldworking techniques and decorating techniques being used on these pieces. Would love to see them in real life.
Controlling the enameling may have been easier once the etching of fine detail was established.