SECTION 1:
CARNIVAL GLASS - THE INSPIRATION
What Inspired Carnival Glass?
Where, in a world without the internet and
without instant ‘round the clock’ access to information, did ideas and
inspiration for new products come from?
The simple answer to this is ‘The Great Exhibitions’ which had a huge influence on the development of all products including glass - because at that time physically seeing items ‘in the flesh’ was the main catalyst for new ideas, new designs and new products.
By the mid 19th Century steam travel, by ship and rail, had facilitated the globalisation of ideas with world trade fairs, such as the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park, London, playing a major role.
The Great Exhibition of 1851, Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London
The Crystal Palace
(Dickinson’s Comprehensive Pictures, Wiki Commons, public domain)
Queen Victoria Opens the Great Exhibition
(Dickinson’s Comprehensive Pictures, Wiki Commons, public domain)
Named ‘The Great Exhibition of the Works and Industries of all Nations’ it was the first ‘International Trade Show’ of its kind – visited by over 6 million people whose journeys had been facilitated by steam railways and steam ships which could now bring people to such an event ‘en masse’. One hundred and fifty seven glass companies exhibited there including well known manufacturers from the Stourbridge area such as Thomas Webb and Richardson.
From this one exhibition came a number of legacies that were to ultimately feed into the development of Carnival Glass, including:
Albertropolis and the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A)
The first of these is Albertropolis, the area of museums and institutes that were built on land to the South of Hyde Park that was purchased from the proceeds of the Great Exhibition – the aim of this development being to realise Prince Albert’s dream of ‘increasing the means of industrial education and extending the influence of science and art upon productive industry’.
This included the South Kensington Museum that opened in 1857 and which housed a number of Roman and Syrian glass objects that had been naturally iridised as a result of being buried in the ground for many years. The museum was visited by one Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1865 and it is said that it was this ancient glass which first inspired him to develop iridised glass some years later.
(Photograph of iridised Roman bowl made in 1st C AD, taken on CGS trip
to the V&A Museum in 2018)
Stourbridge School of Art – South Kensington Curriculum
Secondly, the Exhibition stimulated a
project to build schools of Art and Design around the UK including the Stourbridge
School of Art where Harry Northwood studied and who went on to become one of
the major manufacturers of Carnival Glass in America after 1907.
There Harry Northwood studied the ‘South Kensington Curriculum’ which had a strong focus on flora, fauna and classical themes which no doubt influenced the glass he designed and made after he crossed the Atlantic to America, including his richly decorated Carnival Glass patterns
(Photograph : Northwood Three Fruits Carnival Glass plate from the Carnival Glass Society’s Anthony and Maureen Ward Collection)
So, these were two threads from the Great Exhibition that would ultimately lead to the development of Carnival Glass. Following on from this were other events which led to the craze for iridised Art glass in the European ‘Art Nouveau’ style with various Exhibitions fuelling developments on both sides of the Atlantic.
Key Dates in the Development of Iridised Glass
L: Thomas Webb Charger in iridised Bronze range. R: Northwood Peacock and Urn Bowl, both including birds, foliage and insects
The size of it and the quality of decoration suggests that it must surely have been made for an exhibition. The themes of birds, reeds, flowers – even a dragonfly and a bee - seem to have made their way across the Atlantic as they are all reminiscent of the early Carnival Glass patterns.
His products were expensive and eagerly sought by a wealthy clientele that was eager to buy into the latest fashions in art and design emanating from Europe. It was made at his aptly named ‘Stourbridge Glass Works’ – so we can see that, not only did designs and products cross the Atlantic from Europe to America but even the name of Tiffany’s factory made the journey all the way from the UK to New York, USA.
Photograph : VA
webteam at Wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)]
How did the development of expensive, handcrafted iridised Art Glass items result in the production of pressed iridised Carnival Glass? Find out by reading Section 2 ‘Carnival Glass – The Early Years’.