Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Italian Glass
Organized by the Museum of Glass
Presenting sponsor: Rebecca and Jack Benaroya
Additional sponsors: The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Russell Investment Group, Windgate Charitable Foundation, The Boeing Company, Click! Network, The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Italian Glass, an exhibition organized by the Museum of Glass, opens at the Smithsonian Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery today, October 3, 2008. This exhibition is the first organized by the Museum of Glass to travel to venues around the country. It will remain on view at the Renwick until January 1, 2009 before traveling to three additional museums.

Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect debuted at the Museum of Glass from February 23 to August 24, 2008, where it received high praise from critics and visitors alike. Curated by Susanne K. Frantz, former curator of twentieth-century glass at The Corning Museum of Glass, it is the first exhibition to look at Tagliapietra’s art and forty years of his career—from his years working in the glassmaking industry on the island of Murano, to his historical 1979 trip to Pilchuck Glass School to teach Italian glassmaking techniques to American glassmakers hungry to expand their technical knowledge and skills, to his legacy as the world’s greatest living glassblower and designer. Now age 74, Tagliapietra’s artistic mastery and vision continue to influence Studio Glass artists around the world.

Following the Renwick, Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect will travel to the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA (April 8 – July 19, 2009); the Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA (September 26 – December 27, 2009); and the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY (February 1 – May 31, 2010).

“To organize a traveling exhibition of this magnitude requires the collective commitment of Museum staff, the artists and the collectors,” comments Museum of Glass director Timothy Close. “The staff of the Museum of Glass is very proud that this show has been selected for exhibition by such prestigious institutions on both the east and west coasts. And this is just our first—we are currently preparing two additional shows for travel: Preston Singletary: Echoes, Fire and Shadows and Kids Design Glass. Both of these exhibitions will open at the Museum of Glass in 2009 and begin traveling in 2010.”