Blühender Jugendstil Band I.  Wien: Selbstverlag Dr. Waltraud NeuwirthCZECH ART GLASS BIBLIOGRAPHY

With references to other related art glass.

 

By Alfredo Villanueva-Collado

WARNING: till the publication the Ricke Loetz Catalog it was practically impossible to find any one book from the 70’s  and 80’s on Czech glass  that was free of misattributions.  Therefore, it is best to consult all of your sources, which by now should include glass websites such as www.loetz.com.  These books and materials constitute a sizable investment, and some are more indispensable than others.  Therefore, I have decided to annotate my bibliography.

 There are some auction catalogs I consider a good investment.  However, auction houses would rather burn to the ground than take the trouble to research their iridescent glass, which goes usually by a generic “Loetz” denomination.  Thus, buy a catalog only if it has something you have—and beware of highly inflated estimates.  I also avoid general “glass” books, since they do not have what I specifically collect: Czech and Bohemian glass, WMF, Dugan and Imperial.

 GENERAL SOURCES: ART NOUVEAU, ART DECO, JUGENDSTIL

 Arwas, Victor.  Glass: Art Nouveau to Art Deco.  New York: Rizzoli 1977.  General information. Good section on Loetz with color plates, 139-49.  However, the first picture in the Loetz section is a Rindskopf!

 The Liberty Style.  New York: Rizzoli 1979.  Plate 48 shows Loetz miniatures bearing the Liberty paper label; they were sold as scent bottles and came with small corks.

 Curtis, Tony, intro.  Glass and Metalware.  Collecting for Pleasure Series.  London: Bracken Books, 1992.  Yes, that Tony Curtis. Chapters on Jugendstil (64-67) and Bohemian glass (68-71).  Useful information and good color pictures.

 Hartmann, Carolus.  Glasmarken Lexicon 1600-1945.  Stuttgart: Arnaldosche,1997.  A most amazing (and humongous) volume comprising three centuries of European and American glass marks and labels. The most expensive book in my glass library but worth every penny.

Höltl, Georg, ed.  Das Böhmische Glass 1700-1950. Georg Höltl: Passauer Glasmuseum, 1995.  This massive 7 volume catalogue of the Passau Museum’s holdings brought together by the very best experts in the field.  It covers all Bohemian manufacturers, not only Czech Since it is divided by periods rather than by manufacturers, you will find Loetz and other manufacturers spread  across three or more volumes. I have them all, but consult mostly 3,4,6.  They constitute the only systematic documentation on manufacturers other than Loetz to be found in print so far.  Unfortunately, at the time of my visit to Passau in 2006, I was notified there were no plans for either an update or a translation into English.

Band I:  Barock.  Rokoko.  Kalssizismus

Band II: Empire.  Biedermeier. Zweites Rokoko.

Band III: Historismus.  

Band IV: Jugendstil in Böhmen

Band V: Jugendstil in Bayern und Schlesien

Band VI: Art Deco. Moderne.

Band VII: Karten und Register

 ---. Glass Museum Passau.  European Glassware 1650-1950.  Guide to the Museum.  Edition Offsetdruck Dorfmeister Tittling Passau, May 1^st, 2007.  Hardcover Museum Guide to the holdings.  The best souvenir ever!

 Wichmann, Siegfried.  Art Nouveau, Jugendstil: Floral, Functional Forms.  Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984.  Excellent reference and indispensable study of the botanical and geometrical sources  of Jugendstil and Art Nouveau.  References to both Loetz and Pallme-König; the later is considered by Wichmann a model of organic form in glass.

 ---. Internationales Jugendstilglas: Vorformen moderner Kunst.  München: Museum Stuck-Villa Exhibition, March 14,1969.  In 1985, when I published my first article on Czech glass, I rashly sent it to the Museum Stuck-Villa, and got this catalogue in return! It prefigures Wichmann’s masterful monograph (see above).  As usual, there are misidentifications.  For example, the first three items under Loetz, from the collection of Helmut Hentrich, are now known to be Kralik.  As I said, a pity this museum has eliminated its Jugendstil glass collection.

 CZECH ART GLASS

Adlerová, Alena.  “The Czech Art Nouveau in Darmstadt”.  Glass Review: Czechoslovak Glass and Ceramics Magazine XXXX (3/85): 18-22.  Review of the “Art of the Czech Art Nouveau” exhibition at the Mathildenhöhe Halls in Darmstadt, Federal Republic of Germany, Nov. 1984/Feb. 1985.  Color pictures.

 ---. Ed. Secesni Sklo Zkláterského Mlyna 1895-1914.  Catalog in Czechoslovakian of an exhibition Museum Sumavy/Západoceské Museum/Okresní Museum A Galerie (1984/ 85).  B/W pictures.

 Ballay, Ute.  “Loetz Glass and Austrian Art Nouveau”. Hobbies,  December 1991: 42-43/66.  The title says it all.  After rereading it I had to run to review my books.  Not only does Von Spaun come out Viennese, so does Harrach, Moser and Zasche.  As far as Loetz, did you know it harbored a former Tiffany employee who absconded with the secret for iridescent glass?  In other words, a collection of ALL the urban legends about Loetz.

 Baldwin, Gary D.  Moser Artistic Glass.  Edition Two.  Marietta, Ohio: The Glass Press, 1997.  A very complete monograph on the production of this distinguished Czech glasshouse.

 Glass Review XXXX (4/85).  This number of the magazine was almost entirely devoted to Czech Jugendstil and I think it does contain the seeds of much of what its contributors wrote later. Rather than list them separately, I am listing them together. The magazine lasted until 1993

Adlerová, Alena.  “Brief Information About the Symposium on Bohemian Art Nouveau Glass”.  5.

Drdácká, Paula.  “The Symposium on Bohemian Art Nouveau Glass”.  : 2-5.  Information on the symposium organized by the Institute of the Theory and History of Art of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Sept. 9-12, 1984 and held at Srni, near Sumava.  Color pictures.

Gelnar, Michael.  “the Decorating of Art Nouveau Glass in North Bohemia”: 15-17.

Hais, Rudolph.  “The Shaping and Decorating of Art Nouveau Glass”: 11-17.  Clear and concise descriptions of decorating methods, plus diagrams and color pictures.

Mergl, Jan.  “The Pattern Archives of the Glassworks at Klásterky Mlyn”: 8-10.  Information on the Loetz Glassworks pattern archives at the Sumava Museum at Kasperky Hori.  Color pictures and diagrams.

Panekova, Duna.  “The Artistic Orientation of the Loetz Glassworks after 1905”: Color pictures and diagrams.

 Fiedler-Bender Gisela, intro.  Jugendstil Glas, Keramik, Zinn, Möbel. Sammlung H.R. Gruber, Pirmasens.  Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern (Oct 9-Nov. 20, 1983).  Catalogue of the exhibition of the same name.  Austrian glass section: 42-66.  Loetz: 48-62; nr. 93-125. Many misidentifications.

 Forsythe, Ruth.  Made in Czechoslovakia.  Marietta, Ohio: Ruth Forsythe, 1982.  The author’s own collection of Czech glass and pottery (763 pieces in this volume).  The marks provide the rationale.  No makers information.

 Foulds, Diane E. A Guide to Czech and Slovak Glass.  Prague: Libertas a.s. 1995.  Invaluable guide to current glass production in the region, it covers major and minor glassworks, gives maps, addresses and even shows labels!!!!!  The small bibliography is quite useful—and it includes some Americans!

 Hetteš, Karel.  Glass in Czechoslovakia.  Prague: SNTL, Publishers of Technical Literature, 1958.  Published for the Universal and International Exhibition in Brussels, 1958.  Published while Czechoslovakia was under Communist rule, this book is a real historical curiosity.  It has absolutely no mention of Czech iridescent glass at all!!!!!!

 Hilschenz, Helga.  Das Glas des Jugendstils-Kat. Der Sammlung Hentrich im Kunst-museum Dusseldorf.    München: Prestel 1973.  I own a photocopy of the section on Austrian glass.  Usual misidentifications.

 Kovacek, Michael.  Glass of Four Centuries.  Vienna: Glassgallery Michael Kovacek, 1985.  The catalogue of the gallery’s holdings (including a price list in several by now extinct currencies—a Heckert vase in my collection was going for $760!).  Interestingly enough, the Loetz section begins with a “signed Loetz” which is really a Kralik salmon silberband with a hefty price tag.

 Mergl, Jan.  Bohemian Art Nouveau Glass 1890-1915.  Tokyo: The Mainichi  Newsapers, 1992. Printed to accompany a traveling exhibition to Japan, it is printed in both Japanese and English.  The same representative pieces crop up, so it really adds nothing to the literature.  This is really a problem when it comes to the recent glut of books on Loetz.  None builds on the others, but all show the same decors and pieces.  However, this particular catalog does include works by other manufacturers.

Mergl, Jan, Ernst Ploil and Helmut Ricke, eds.  Loetz: Bohemian Glass 1880-1940.  The Neue Galerie, New York: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2007.  Reworking of the 1989 Ricke two-volume catalogue, with revised information.  Vol. 2 of the original now converted into a mostly unworkable CD-Rom.  I still go back to the German edition for double checking.  As usual, it covers mostly high end Loetz.  Interestingly enough, the bibliography does not include the Passau Museum catalogue!

Moir, Mike. "Kralik and Rindskopf: Unsung heroes of Art Nouveau Glass".  Antiquexplorer (april 2009): 6-8.  A general information article by a noted British dealer and collector.  As far as I know, the only article of its kind in the UK.

Neuwirth, Waltraud.  Loetz Austria 1900- Glas, Glass, Verre, Vetri. Wien: Selbstverlag Dr. Waltraud Neuwirth, 1986.  Catalog in 4 languages of the exhibition “Loetz Austria 1900 at the Austrian Museum of Applied Art, Vienna  (May 23^rd-July 8^th 1986) and at the Provincial Museum of Upper Austria, Linz (Nov. 20^th-Jan. 31st, 1987).  Color plates, background information with period pictures.  Quite useful; no mistakes!

 ---. Loetz, Austria, 1905-1918.  Companion volume to the above.

 ---. Glass 1905-1925.  From Art Nouveau to Art Deco.  Band I:.  Exhibition Catalogue to show by the same name, Austrian Museum of Applied Art, Vienna Oct. 25^th  1985-Jan. 26, 1986.  Wien: Selbstverlag Dr. Waltraud Neuwirth, 1985.  Cased, crystal and cut glass from the period.  German and English.

 Pazaurek, Gustav E. Moderne Gläser.  Monographien des Kunstgewerbes.  Leipzig: Verlag  Von Hermann Seeman Nachfloger,  1901.  In German.  Quite useful even if you do not speak German, because of the copious illustrations identifying pieces of glassmakers such as Goldberg, Reidel, Heckert, Lobmeyer, Bakalowitz and others.

 ---. Kunstgläser der Gegenwart.  Leipzig: Im Verlage Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1925.  In German.  253 illustrations of engraved and cut glass and tableware but currently unknown glass manufacturers.

 ---. And Walter Spiegel.  Glas des 20 Jährhunderts Jugendstil, Art Deco.  München: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1983.  In German; mostly useful for the pictures and color plates.  It has some notable misattributions, above all, the so-called Powolny vases  on pp.108-109.

 Ploil, Ernst, ed. Lötz at the World Exhibition Paris 1900.  Wien: Kovacek, 1993.  Printed to celebrate the opening of the Kovacek Gallery in Vienna, this volume is a cross between a catalogue and an expensive coffee table.  Though it is nice to have the Paris 1900 Exhibition pieces, for which Loetz won a gold medal, all together, the fact remains that they are the most representative, which means they appear in every book on Loetz. 

 Ricke, Helmut, Tomáš Viček and Alena Adlerová eds. Lötz: Böhmisches Glass 1880-1940.  Band 1: Werkmonographie. München: Prestel Verlag, 1989. Written as a companion to a traveling exhibition, and co-authored by  Jan Mergl, Duňa Paneková and Wolfgang Henning, this volume quickly became known as “the Loetz Bible”, and it still is.  German not needed; just memorize the pictures.

 ---. Band 2:  Katalog Der Musterschnitte.  München: Prestel Verlag, 1989.  From over 80,000 Loetz design drawings found  in the 80’s, the authors chose 5000 for inclusion in this volume.  It tends to be quite repetitive, that is, the same design appears several times depending on the size and the production date, and overwhelming: it takes hours to find what you are looking for, if indeed you do find it.  But you learn to deal with it. 

 Sembach, Klaus Jurgen, intro.  Loetz Austria: irisierende Farbgläser des Jugendstils. Munchen: Villa Stuck, 1971.  Catalog of the same name at Villa Stuck (Dec. 15, 1971-March 26, 1972).  Kulturgeschichtliches Museum Onasbruck (April 5^th-May 14^th 1972); Staatlische Museen Preussischer Kulbersitz Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin (May 27^th-Aug. 14^th 1972).  Though the exhibit had more than 100 pieces, there are only three color plates with about 36 pieces.  Pieces numbered 5, 52 and 95 are misidentified, being either PK or Kralik.  At the time of my visit to Villa Stuck in 2006, I was notified they had divested themselves of their Jugendstil glass collection.

Spaink, Herman.  Loetz Tango Glass.  Collectie Boheems Glass 1890-1940 in Het Haags Glasmuseum.  Den Haags : Het Haags Glasmuseum, nd.    I have no idea how it did come about, but the information is not only totally useless and false—we know now that  Michael Powolny only made a few, well documented glass designs, but that Kralik was the greatest manufacturer of mass-produced Tango glass—but it has spread like a cancer on eBay, where now everyone is quoting it as a source.  Don’t you find it suspicious that every piece in the book is attributed to Powolny?  And where is this questionable “museum”?

REVIEW BY CRAIG ORKNEY

Loetz Tango Glass
by Herman Spaink
ISBN: 10.90-810444-1-9

This book, which has become widely used as a reference on ebay, and is also making it's way into other auction venues including brick and mortar establishments, is not worth the investment unless one is looking for a nice coffee table book for pictures alone.

The information contained in this book actually flies in the face of known and documented information. There are rampant and incorrect attributions of Tango pieces to Loetz and also Michael Powolny. It is well known that Powolny designed a handful of Tango pieces for Loetz, yet this book incorrectly attributes many pieces to both Loetz and also to Powolny. Powolny designs are well documented and easily identifiable.

Additionally the book invents a manufacturing company named "Loetz Kralik", implying that the companies are one and the same. This has contributed to the rampant attribution of many pieces of Tango  glass on Ebay to both Loetz Kralik and also to Powolny, and cite the book as the attribution reference.

The glass pictured in the book is represented as being part of the collection in "Het Haags Glasmuseum.  Den Haags ND"  Many serious attempts at locating and verifying both the museum and the collection have failed.

If you must buy this book, buy it for the pictures only, if what you would like is a nice selection of Tango Glass images.  The photography is actually well done.

At the time of writing it appears that the website promoting this book has been taken down, as I was unable to locate it any longer.

For the sake of accuracy do not take the text in this book seriously. It has done serious damage by helping to perpetuate the internet myth that all two colored (or close) Czech glass is Tango, that all Tango glass is Loetz (pr now Loetz Kralik), and that all Loetz (Loetz Kralik) Tango was designed by Powolny.

Thistlewood Stephen, and Glen.  Czechoslovakian Carnival Part 1: Jopseph Inwald, Josef Rindskopf.  Hampshire, England 2002.  A fascinating if little explored facet of Czech glass production:  Carnival glass!

 Truitt, Robert, and Deborah.  Collectible Bohemian Art Glass 1880-1940. Kensington MD: B&D Glass, 1995.  Identifies the Rusticana line as having been designed by Christopher Dresser. The sections on the  four major manufacturers offer no surprises, but there are valuable sections on some less well-known firms such as Harrach and Pohl.  My favorite is Hosch, since it has several pages taken from Kralik catalogues.

 ---. Collectible Bohemian Glass 1915-1945.  Vol. II.  Kensington, MD: B&D Glass, 1998. Loetz cameo, enameled, etched glass: 26-28/31/46/51/70/72-74/04/120.  Color Plates.  It does not attempt to identify or classify Tango glass.  Calls Papillon “Phanomen” (Truitt stated to me that Papillon pieces were more expensive or difficult to make than Phanomen, exactly the opposite of what appears in the Kanje book).

---.  “What’s In a Name?  Research Shows Propeller Mark Belongs to Harrach.”  Antiques Week. 33, 1667 (April 30, 2001): 1/40.

Villanueva-Collado, Alfredo.  “Identifying Loetz and Other Bohemian Art Nouveau Glass”. Hobbies: The Magazine for Collectors.  February 1985: 20-24.  This is the article that got me into the Loetz Ricke 1 bibliography (look under Rindskopf).  The irony is that I had misidentified every piece of non-Loetz in the article as either Loetz or Kralik. It is obvious to me that I did not even know about Rindskopf at the time!

 ---. “Not All That Shines is Loetz: Identifying Bohemian Iridescent Glass”.  Glass Collector’s Digest  Photos by Abersio Núñez.  Pieces from my own collection.  It has my most (in)famous misidentification, caused by faulty sources (hence, I will never truly trust printed information): the vase on the cover was not Pallme-König but Kralik!!!!! XII 6(April-May 1999): 51-63

 ---.  “Identifying Loetz Glass: A Trip Through the Forest.  Part 1” Glass Collector’s Digest  XIII 4(December/January 2000): 59-66.  Photos by Abersio Núñez.  Well, in this two part article I did not make any mistakes!  By the way, in this and the following issue there is a quite useful article by Helen and Robert Jones on the many ways to decorate glass.

 ---. “Identifying Loetz Glass: A Trip trough the Forest.  Part 2”  Glass Collector’s Digest XIII 5 (February/March 2000): 39-49.  And this was my last appearance in print.  My next article was rejected by the editor because I apparently took “too many risks.”  It was on Rindskopf.  As it was, my “risks” all proved correct attributions.  I wrote to Eddy Scheepers, who welcomed my research into loetz.com and the rest, as they say, is history.  The GCD folded, and I moved into the Internet.

 ---. Czech Glass Catalogue Featuring Kralik Glassworks and Others. Monograph 59, West Virginia Museum of American Glass, 2006.  I wrote a brief introduction to this fascinating catalogue (available on eBay) written in four languages and containing 196 decors and over 350 vases and other pieces. It actually shows  pieces illustrated in Neuwirth.

I recommend any European auction catalogue over any American auction catalogue.  European catalogues are also meant as research tools, not just marketing props, and usually contain valuable information.  However, there are 2 catalogues I consider indispensable, because of their historical value.

 Wiener Jugendstil Sonderauktion.  60. Auktion.  Galerie Wolfang Ketterer München. November 1982.  Perhaps you have heard of a certain auction that had already finished when all of the bids were cancelled and all items sold for an undisclosed sum to one particular individual, thus forming the basis for a collection that was soon to be studied and displayed in every book on Czech art glass?  Well, folks, this is the catalogue!!!!!  As usual, misidentifications.

 Jackson’s Auction, Oct 25^th-26^th, 2003, featuring the Bob and Deborah Truitt Collection.  As usual, everything is “Loetz”, but it’s worth having if only to remind yourself of the eventual fate of your beloved belongings.

 JOURNALS

The Czech Collectors Association has gone through two incarnations, and both have produced magazines devoted to Czech artifacts, particularly glass and pottery.  In its first incarnation, the organization was called Czechoslovakian Collectors Guild International, and published a magazine under the same name, with the telling and slightly sinister motto “Invest in the best”.   Most of the articles were written by a few individuals, with jewels of wisdom such as “Whether Michael Powolny ever actually produced any of these pieces or just designed them, his name as designer rings true.  All of the pieces share simplicity in design: two colors, three handles,”  in an article introducing “Powolny Three-Handled pieces”. From 1995 to 2000, the magazine went through 20 issues of  wildly uneven quality.

Then, in 2002, The new Czech Collectors Association emerged, with a magazine called Journal of Czech Decorative Arts  whose motto, “Appreciation Through Knowledge” reflected a profound change in focus.  Surely enough, its first issue carried a scholarly article by  Czech expert Jitka Lnenickovä, showing a three handled Tango piece correctly attributed to Marie Kirshner.  Six issues of consistent high quality were produced; by 2004 the magazine had ceased to exist.  However, copies are still available from the CCA website (see Useful Links.  The contents of each issue are listed).  I highly recommend trying to get both sets of journals, since they attest to the passionate commitment on the part of American collectors and dealers when it comes to Czech artistic products.

Another defunct journal, of which I have the entire set, is the Glass Collector’s Digest.  Though mostly dedicated to American glass, it did cover glass from other countries, beginning with its first issue, which contained an article on Moser by Gary Baldwin. Indeed, the GCD served as a venue where Czech glass collectors and researchers first published articles that were later going to be developed into full-fledged books, as we can see from the list below:

 Baldwin, Gary.  “Ludwig Moser and Sons—a Brief Historical Sketch”.  I, 1: 68-79.

---. “Moser—The Venetian Connection”.  IV, 1: 63

---. “Moser and St. Louis: A Case of Mistaken Identity”. VI, 2: 55

---.  “ Ćeská: Post-War Importer of Moser Glass”. XI, 4: 57

 Forsythe, Ruth.  “Czechoslovakian  Glass: 1918-1938”. I, 5: 13

 Gregg, Dianne.  “The Harrtil Glass Mystery”  V!, 5:39. [Note: Harrtil was a 50’s line From the Harrachov Glassworks, designed by Milan Metelák].

 Kelly, Carol.  “Bohemian Glass from America’s Gilded Age”.  XIV,  1: 55.

 O’Connor, Robert. “CCGI-New Club on the News”. X,4: 10. [The GCD’s editorial review of the CCGI’s first annual convention ]

 Schramer, Gerhard.  “Post-Classic Bohemian Paperweights”. XIV, 3: 43.

 Truitt, Robert and Deborah. “Mary Gregory: Myth and Mystery”. IV, 5: 26

---. “Researching Bohemian Glass”.  VII, 4: 60

---. “Character of the Czech Glass Industry”. VII,  5:28.

---. “Bohemian Glass”.  VII, 6:  54.

---. “Loetz Marmorierte Glass”.  IX, 2:67.

---. “Czech Glass: 1918-1939”. X,  6:39.

---. “Želený Brod Figurines”.  XIII, 1:35.