About the Artwork
With a smooth cylindrical shape and geometric pattern engraved on its surface, this 1932 vase appealed to the American embrace of modern style during the Great Depression. Industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague conceived this form during his brief tenure with the Steuben Division of Corning Glass Works. Steuben had built its reputation through elaborate and artfully crafted glass objects in a rainbow of vibrant colors created under its founder Frederick Carder (1863 – 1963). Teague’s simplified forms in colorless glass were a radical departure in style.
Teague’s objects were marketed as luxury goods, unlike the inexpensive mass-produced wares Corning sold under the Pyrex brand during the same period. The designer quipped that possessing a piece of modern Steuben glass should be “one of those evidences of solvency, like the ownership of a Cadillac.”
Vase
1932
Walter Dorwin Teague (Designer) American, 1883-1960 Steuben Division, Corning Glass (Manufacturer)
Glass
Overall: 12 inches (30.5 cm)
Glass
American Art before 1950
Museum Purchase, Associates of the American Wing Special Projects Fund
2018.45
Public Domain
Markings
Engraved, on underside of base: Steuben
Provenance
(KPM Art and Antiques);2018-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
Please note: This section is empty
The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Please note: This section is empty
We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest FeedbackCatalogue Raisoneé
Please note: This section is empty
Credit Line for Reproduction
Walter Dorwin Teague; Steuben Division, Corning Glass, Vase, 1932, glass. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Associates of the American Wing Special Projects Fund, 2018.45.
Feedback
We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction or improvement.
Suggest Feedback