The Contrasts: A Glass Primer exhibition (November 2006 - November 2009) asks the viewer if there are other ways to think about works of art before rushing to judgment.

Focusing on the brutal/beautiful contrasts:

What makes Hank Murta Adams’, Platterhead, brutal? Can it not be deemed beautiful?

Why does the typical viewer think Frederick Carder’s, Head of a Woman, is beautiful? How do we determine what is beautiful vs. brutal in artistic terms?

Hank Murta Adams (American, born 1956)
Platterhead, 1996
Cast glass and patinated copper
Collection of Tacoma Art Museum, gift of Rebecca and Alexander C. Stewart
Photo by Richard Nicol

Frederick Carder (designer, British, 1863–1963)
Head of a Woman, Steuben Glass, about 1940
Cast pâte de verre glass
Collection of The Corning Museum of Glass, 59.4.384
Photo courtesy of The Corning Museum of Glass