Glassmaking dates to Mesopotamia circa 2500 BCE, but it was the Romans, approximately 2,000 years later, who pioneered glassblowing, allowing for the production of intricate decorative items, while, in 1903, French chemist Édouard Bénédictus developed tempered glass, which is some 10 times stronger and plays a critical role in design today.
All this and more are explored in “Sand, Ash, Heat: Glass at the New Orleans Museum of Art,” an exhibition of hundreds of items drawn from the NOMA’s permanent collection, examining how the material is connected to scientific discovery, foodways, cultural exchange, and artistic innovation across time and cultures, from Ram’s Head, from the 18th Dynasty of Egypt (1550–1292 BCE), to 2017’s The Hinged View by Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. “Lenses, architecture, phone screens, even wine bottles and the vessels used to toast—all are part of our shared human history in glass,” Mel Buchanan, NOMA’s RosaMary curator of decorative arts and design, says. Local talent is celebrated as well, with items by former Tulane University students and professors, including Gene Koss, who founded the school’s hot shop in 1976.
Olafur Eliasson’s 2017 The Hinged View is among more than 250 pieces in “Sand, Ash, Heat: Glass at the New Orleans Museum of Art.” Photography courtesy of Olafur Eliasson and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York.
Yoichi Ohira’s 2004 Nostalgia Vase #2. Photography courtesy of the New Orleans Museum of Art and William Mcdonald Boles and Eva Carol Boles Fund, 2005.41
Gene Koss’s Ridge Road Climb from 1984. Photography courtesy of Gene Koss.
The circa 1926 Bottle by Maurice Marinot. Yoichi Ohira’s 2004 Nostalgia Vase #2. Photography courtesy of the New Orleans Museum of Art and William Mcdonald Boles and Eva Carol Boles Fund, 2004.40.
Ghost chair, a 1987 design in ½-inch-thick tempered glass by Cini Boeri and Tomu Katayanagi for Fiam Italia. Photography by Rago/Wright/courtesy of the New Orleans Museum of Art and William Mcdonald Boles and Eva Carol Boles Fund, 2023.23.