Topic: Hadeland Gro Bergslien Signed Vase Date & Value Question

[chopin-liszt]

ok, here goes!
I don't know how they'll turn out - the brightness and colours on my pc are weird.
The Hadeland piece is very difficult to photograph - it's a simple shape, but the really fascinating thing is that there is the shape of a bottle inside it, with shoulders and a neck. I tried putting some coloured opaque stuff inside (bio-washing liquid - if I'm going to start putting stuff in it, I really should clean it at the same time!). Photographs do not do it justice at all. It's  18cm tall.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/Bm3.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/Bm4.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/Bm5.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/Bm1.jpg

There's another little piece I love, unmarked, but it whispered "I'm a Benny and I need to come home with you." to me the second I saw it at a fair in London. My brother managed to look at the Benny book which his partner has (nobody's allowed to touch the book, far less read it   ) and we confirmed the design as hers. I woud really love to get my mitts on a copy!
Little pot vase, 9cm tall.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/benny1.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/benny2.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/benny3.jpg


This is my Quasimodo Benny. Her initials and the '79 are scored out, it is marked II. I love her wonkiness too, and the lumps and bumps - see the piece above - but this bit is plain wrong. However, it does display well from the right angle, and has some very interesting textures, effects and colours. It's medium sized, 11.5 cm tall.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/bmq1.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/bmq2.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/bmq3.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/bmq4.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/bmq5.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/bmq6.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/bmq7.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/chopin-liszt/benny/bmq8.jpg

Thanks for the info about signatures and marks, Alexander - it explains some confusion I had at first - I have two clear pieces, with bubbles and mesh inclusions in a spiral pattern, one is marked BMPlus, the other is initialled by her with the date, '71. I did wonder why two such similar bits were marked quite differently.  :rah:

Re. you saying Gro Bergslein pices don't fetch high prices - there was a small blue colourway short vase on ebay recently, in a pattern very similar to my piece - and it made £71 + P&P, not too bad a price - she may be on the way up?

[langhaugh]

Alexander: Thanks for the explanation about the Benny Motzfeltd signatures. That helps put the pieces I have into perspective.

Sue: I really like your Motzfeltd pieces. Our tastes coincide here;it must be the Scottish blood. I like both Benny and Gro, although I find it's fairly hard to find pieces by either around here (Vancouver, BC) or even on eBay. I've also found it difficult to get information on either of them, or even to find a reference to a book on either of them. I have ordered an exhibition catalogue of Benny's work by Kathleen Lynch. Is there anything  out there that is worth looking for? Sue, you mentioned a book that you weren't allowed to touch.

My Benny and Gro pieces are in my small Norway album on Picasa. The link is http://picasaweb.google.com/lasilove/Norway#

Thanks, again, to both of you.

David

[chopin-liszt]

There is a book on Benny, but out of print, quite old and very difficult to get hold of..... and if one comes up, I've bagged it first!  
I have a sort of principle that if I fall for something, grab it when I see it, I can find out about it later.

would I be able to get hold of a copy of the exhibition catalogue? are they available?

Thanks for your pics! - i've a blue thing like your Benny 258. I'll need to get the camera out again..... all my Bennys are upstairs, so it might take me a wee bit time to get pics together of most of them.

[langhaugh]

I ordered this book yesterday so I've no idea what it's like. but here are the details.

Title    Benny Motzfeldt, a Norwegian Pathfinder in Glass: an Exhibition Sponsored By the Royal Norwegian Min
Author    Lynch, Kathleeen A. [Editor]
Publisher    Smithsonian Institution Press
Yr. Published    1979
Description    Good 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall Ex-Library Brief Description: Motzfeldt, Benny, 1909-Benny Motzfeldt, a Norwegian pathfinder in glass: an exhibition sponsored by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1979-81; developed for circulation by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service / [edited by Kathleen A. Lynch]. [Washington]: The Service, c1979. 22 p. : ill.; 20 cm.
Price    C$22.86

David

[chopin-liszt]

ummm, where from?
is there an ISBN?
are there any more copies?
if published in '79, it might be the one I'm after! 

[langhaugh]

Sue:

I found the book by doing a search for Motzfeltd on Alibris, through whom I bought the book. I should say booklet s it's only 22 pages long. There wasn't an ISBN number given. I'll let you know what it's like when it arrives.


Who was the author of the book owned and read exclusively bu your brother's partner?

David

[chopin-liszt]

I'm afraid I don't know. It is a hardback.

[Alsretro]

Hi Sue, six books and one poster on abebooks.co.uk
Alastair

[chopin-liszt]

Hello Alistair    - thought I'd "seen" you around here, recently!

Thanks, will take a look immediately!

[langhaugh]

Sue:

I had two small books arrive on Benny Motzfeldt. The first was Glasskunstneren Benny Motzfeltd published in Oslo in 1973. It has two colour pictures and a few b& w ones. There's a short essay in English and the rest is in Norwegian. The book I mentioned in an earlier post is even slimmer. A few pictures, a list of the pieces in the Motzfeldt exhibition, and a repeat of the same essay as in the first book I mentioned. Not entirely useless, but I was hoping for a bit more. If you happen to acquire another, fuller work, could you please let me know?

Orrabest.

David