Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: ahremck on September 27, 2010, 01:52:03 AM
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I have a couple of Ladislav Dostal engraved crystal slabs. Both have a strong Australian theme. The aboriginal one is dated 1970 the other 1971. The mystery to me is where he learned his skill - which is very good - see the aboriginal piece. The blurb at the auction stated he was born in Czechoslovakia and moved to Norway before coming to Australia in 1974. I have also seen another slab representing a Perenti (a large Australian lizard) and dated 1971. So it seems to me that he was probably here before he did the works.
I am wondering if anyone knows of his work in Europe, and where he might have trained to achieve the standard he reached. Certainly there was no art glass trainng in Australia pre 1974 or so.
Ross
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Hi Ross, I recently acquired my second Dostal piece (at an op shop, but a bit damaged). I've done a bit more digging on the internet and found an ad for Hardy Brothers in the SMH of 27 March 1973 (p11) which says: "... Ladislav Dostal is one of the few remaining craftsmen in the ancient art of glass engraving and sculpture. Now resident in Australia, Czech-born Dostal went to Norway as a refugee, where he learnt the skills developed in his native land. He carried out many commissioned works including engravings for the Norweigian Royal House and the National Theatre ... prices range from $45 to $350". Although the piece from the Berry Collection catalogue (which I think you have) says he moved to Australia in 1974, the National Archives has a record of a Ladislav Dostal arriving in Australia (with his family) in July 1968 from Norway, which would better match your 1970 and 71 dates. There are also two 1969 photographs of Mr Dostal and his work under the heading: "Immigration - Migrants in employment - Glass - engavings in glass by Oslo craftsman - Mr Ladislav Dostal, Adelaide, SA". I think his work is great, as is that of other "Australian" glass engravers such as Anne Dybka (England), Helmut Hiebl (Austria) and Miki Kubo (Japan). Hope this info is of use. Andrew
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Thank you for that Andrew. I in fact also got information from Stephen Skillitzi - who knew Ladislav while he was in Adelaide. Love to see examples that you have. I assume you live in Australia - where did you pick up your items?
Ross
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Hi Ross. I live in Sydney and picked up my first piece at auction, but I have to find it first before I can show you (LOL). The second piece was at an op shop, but it's a bit bashed around the edges and the design is of a deer and not as interesting IMHO as some of his other work. There have been a couple on eBay which I bid for but was not successful - maybe you were? I think both cut and engraved glass is currently greatly under-rated when you consider the amount of craftsmanship that went into them. Will post pics when I find the other one. Regards, Andrew
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I've got a paperweight/sculpture signed L.Dostal or Oostal. I've never found out anything about it, but it's not an engraving. Could it be the same person??
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,8417.msg70601.html#msg70601
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Hi Max. I've had a quick look at my most recent purchase which is an engraved paperweight/sculpture like those Ross shows. Looking at the signature block it does seem to be the same: all caps, a full stop after the first L, a mark (like an apostrophe) between the A and the L at end of the name, and a 7 without the cross bar that is often found in European figure 7. The 2 photos in the Australian National Archives file show Mr Dostal with a number of the engraved paperweights/sculptures on the table in front of him, and in one what may be more complex pieces - perhaps a cut vase and what looks like an engraved picture in a frame. The SMH ad (which I don't have a copy of) had an illustration of a complex engraved piece called "Ned Kelly" for $220. I would certainly think that a craftsman like Mr Dostal could easily turn his hand to other complex arrangements like the one you have. Your piece appears blue, while mine are both greenish. So where did you get yours from Max? With a date of 72 you'd imagine it was made after he came to Australia. The other interesting issue might be why you see so few of them. Presumably he would have produced a large number of items, as suggested by the Hardy Brothers exhibition in 1973. Apart from those Ross has I've only seen two on eBay in the past 12 months or so and in quick succession (which often happens). Perhaps we might now have solved a bit of a mystery. But I haven't been able to find any information apart from that from the early 70s. Might Steve Skillitzi be able to tell us more? Regards, Andrew
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Ladislav was still working in Adelaide in 1975/6. Here follows a quote from Stephen Skillitzi
"Ladislav Dostal was a co-worker with me at Symons Glass Co. adelaide 1975/6.
To a friend recently: "I in fact worked with Ladislav Dostal at Symons Glass Co. at Glenside S.A. in 1975/6 before I took over the ceramics Dept. from potter Milton Moon. His work was facetted and engraved/sandblasted abstract and realistic images onto thick plate glass, often glued up into extravagant sculptures.... I would like to see them again and give him his due recognition.... but alas where are they all??" We did not discuss his original training but we respected each other's glass creations and occasionally shared projects.
AND LATER
Without checking I presume this is THE message from the message board....Ian (and now Ross) Mckenzie???
" Hi Stephen , i remember him well , have a bit of his work or my wife has , he had a few sons i was at school with one , they would be around , he was a proud man and you would have been shown his newspaper clippings and so forth he kept of his work ,find his sons would be the course i'd take [Only one "Dostal" in the Adelaide phone book.],i thought he went back to europe , ive a horse he did on a mirror , your able to do things like it these days ,its not that difficult ,
good luck with it , theres a lot we will loose if it is not documented , no one after me will know what went on as i see it being lost , cheers Ian"
Thanks for this and any future info you can provide.I am Ccing this to a scholarly colleague/artist who also is interested in Dostal's contribution.
I also include a piccie of my Goanna/Perenti by him
Ross
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Ross, thank you so much for all that great information! Hard to believe that you've discovered who made my paperweight/sculpture after 6 years....think that MIGHT be a new GMB record! Thank you! :D It's really wonderful that this information and our photographs are all kept here for posterity at least, and some of L.Dostal's work is documented.
:hiclp: :hiclp: :hiclp:
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Can we see photos of your Dostal pieces sometime soon please, Max.
Ross
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There are pictures in the link Max has posted above Ross
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Oops! :-[ I really meant to ask Andrew to put his up so we can see them. By the way Max I really like the piece you have - so different to what I have.
Ross
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At least 5 other crystal slabs engraved by Ladislav Dostal were sold on ebay.au in 2008 and 2009. I don’t have records of all of them, but the first two pictures below show two examples. The nativity scene is signed but not dated while the angel fish (which is a close relative of Ross’s) is not signed or dated.
I have found a couple of other results from physical auction houses in Australia, as shown in the second pair of pictures. The crystal slab with the butterfly fetched $A55 in Sept 2010. Of special interest to Max is the paperweight, which is signed ‘L Dostal 74’. I could not find a sale price when it was offered in June 2010, but the estimate was $A50-100.
For interest, I have included the two photos of Mr Dostal himself from the Australian Archives mentioned by Andrew (‘astroboy’ in Reply #5).
Trevor
(Click on a thumbnail to see the full-size picture.)
(http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa420/boldover/th_Dostal-1.jpg) (http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa420/boldover/Dostal-1.jpg) (http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa420/boldover/th_Dostal-2.jpg) (http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa420/boldover/Dostal-2.jpg)
(http://auctions.lawsons.com.au/full/342/30851342.jpg) (http://auctions.lawsons.com.au/full/342/30851342.jpg) (http://www.scammellauctions.com.au/catalogue/shop_image/product/aafa824d126198941fa24b85a75d6a20.jpg) (http://www.scammellauctions.com.au/catalogue/shop_image/product/aafa824d126198941fa24b85a75d6a20.jpg)
(http://naa12.naa.gov.au/NAAMedia/ShowImage.asp?B=7467450&S=1&T=R) (http://naa12.naa.gov.au/NAAMedia/ShowImage.asp?B=7467450&S=1&T=P) (http://naa12.naa.gov.au/NAAMedia/ShowImage.asp?B=7467451&S=1&T=R) (http://naa12.naa.gov.au/NAAMedia/ShowImage.asp?B=7467451&S=1&T=P)
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Thank you so much Trevor for your info. You obviously have a strong interest in Australian glass art. I did not realise so many pieces had come through the market. Let's hope Andrew's pieces are interesting.
Ross
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Hi All, I've finally dug out my other Dostal piece only to discover it's one of the ones Trevor shows - the Fern and Butterfly. It's a magnificent piece in green glass about 18cm high and 12cm wide and weighing over 2kg with cut and polished sides. The "fern" is engraved on the front face and the butterfly on the back face, so it has amazing depth. It is signed L. Dostal 72, with the number 92 more roughly engraved under the signature. The other is a reclining fawn and tree cut into the back face and grass and a branch engraved into the front face. It is much smaller, about 9cm high and 11cm wide with chipped ice edges around 3 sides, along with a few damage chips. It's signed L. Dostal 71. Sorry to take so long. Regards, Andrew
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Hi, my name is Jedda and Ladislav was my grandfather.
I think somewhere among all the clutter of household items i may actually have a piece of his work. A glass engraved Crocodile i believe. Although I haven't seen it for some time as he gave it to my parents when i was a child. If i can track it down i would be glad to post a photo of it on this thread so you too can behold it's beauty. :)
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Also i would like to add that yes he Did come over to Australia from Norway around 1968, I know this because my dad was born in 1961 in Oslo, Norway and he said that they moved over to Australia when he was 6-7 roughly with his two older brothers and mother.
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Thanks for that Jedda. If you manage to dig out nthe crocodile we would love to see it.
Ross
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Sadly, he died Decemeber 2011 i think from Dementia. :(
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I'm Jan (Yarn) Dostal, son of Ladislav Dostal. Dad worked in Norway, Oslo doing engraving and other glass art from a shop called Larsen. He was commissioned to do work for KingOlav and Danish royalty. We emigrated to Australia (mum dad & my two brothers and me) in 1968. Arriving in Adelaide in '69 where dad started working for Symonds and Symonds, glass merchant.
He made hundreds of art pieces depicting Aboriginals kangaroos other Australian fauna and a series of miners (Broken Hill) where he built a magnificent 5m tall glass fountain sculpture for the REAL Casio consisting of over 100,000 pieces of glass.I would sometimes at school holidays go and help dad polish pieces inc most memorable TheTwoFacesOfSheeba sculpture.He also did a life-size detailed sculpture of an Aboriginal elder.Sadly he died, in 2011, 3years later after a stroke following a gallstone op. I have many glass pieces on slides I have digitised but sadly no glass pieces themselves. I do have a leather picture piece of art he made depicting a farm scene inc horse drinking in a trough. (His take on leatherwork class he took while everyone made repeated pattern sameness.)
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Hello Yarn,
Thank you so much for taking time out to give us all information about your father and his work. How sad that you don't have any of his glass, but hopefully that can be put right if you keep a look out on the Internet :)
Kind wishes, Nigel
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Thanks for that information, Jan. Did you see the two photos of your dad in the last line of links in Brewster's posting?
I would love to talk to you if you would not mind. You can email me a phone number which you can find by clicking on my GMB name 'ahremck'.
Ross