La Donna Vase
Design Date 1950
Designer Fulvio Bianconi (1915-1996, Italian)
Manufacturer Gino Cenedese & Company (1945-present), Murano, Italy
Media glass
Dimensions 9 1/4 x 6 1/2 x 4 inches
Fulvio Bianconi, in addition to his more abstract vessels, produced a number of figural glass pieces inspired by the glass and ceramics of Pablo Picasso. Bianconi’s method of producing these pieces approached painting—he trailed strands of colored molten glass across the vessel to produce stripes like the blue in the La Donna vase. Bianconi worked as a caricaturist and illustrator in addition to his glasswork. Vance Kirkland came to know Bianconi and collected some of his glass in the 1950s and 1960s. Bianconi was reluctant to part with this, as he was with other premium pieces which he thought should be preserved in museums. Kirkland bought the vase directly from the artist at his studio in Italy and displayed flowers in it on his desk for many years. Through Kirkland’s estate it is now part of Kirkland Museum’s collection.
ON VIEW in Studio Exhibition Room 14
Markings unsigned
Credit Line Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art; Bequest of Vance Kirkland
Accession Number 1981.003
