When someone mentions glass and art in the same sentence, three names spring immediately to my mind:
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Rene Lalique
Dale Chihuly
No great detail today, I want to point out just one clear similarity in their natal charts: the position of Neptune.
According to "The Rulership Book" by Rex E. Bills, Neptune rules among many, many other things.....glass. Neptune also rules creativity, and is very often found well aspected or in a strong position in the natal charts of artists, all kinds of artists. There's a double Neptune whammy for artists who work with glass then!
So...portrait, natal chart and a few samples of the work of each artist.
(Where time of birth isn't known the chart is set for 12 noon.)
LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY
Note: Neptune is in its own sign, Pisces in the first degree, and conjunct (joined) to the Sun in the last degree of the previous sign, Aquarius.
Tiffany's glass dome ceiling at the Chicago Cultural Center - a nice one for astrology buffs! Enlarged portion next.
Tiffany stained glass window
Tiffany lamp
RENE LALIQUE
Note: We do have Lalique's time of birth, coutesy of Astrodatabank, so the house position of Neptune here is accurate. Neptune is, once again, in it's own sign, Pisces. Not as close to Sun as in Tiffany's case, but in the same house - 10th house of career and public status. Neptune is also in harmonious sextile (60*) to Venus, planet of the arts.
Examples of Lalique glass:
DALE CHIHULY
Note: Neptune exactly conjunct(same degree) as Sun, probably quite close to Moon also, though without time of birth this is uncertain.
More about Chihuly and his work at a post from the archives here
Chihuly's work is so gorgeous, dramatic and varied that photographs don't do it justice, but here are a few samples anyway:
Yes, I know all three, though not necessarily very well. I mentioned (and pictured) a piece of Lalique's jewelry in one of my longer poems.
ReplyDeletehttp://jgblues.blogspot.com/2004/09/conversation-piece.html
Some truly stunning creations there.
ReplyDeleteR.Southern ~~~ Oohhh that pin is so beautiful - I should have mentioned the jewellery of Tiffany and Lalique, I guess - thanks for reminding me.
ReplyDeleteYour long poem is impressive - yet rather erotic for a gal who has not yet had her 2nd cup of coffee!
I'll read it again later in the day. ;-)
I still can't comment on your blog without being thrown off by the Blogger gatekeeper bug. I'll keep trying though. :-)
AN ~~~ Yes - they're a trio of masters!
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone else has that trouble or I'm not paying attention to it. But, just email me if comments are buggy. I am certainly not bug-resistant lately (had at least 38 viruses the last attack!).
ReplyDeleteR.Southern ~~~ I e-mailed re comments - still not letting me in.
ReplyDeleteI sent a screen capture to show what's what.
These creations and your astrological portrait perfectly illustrate the beautiful dreamy quality of Neptune.
ReplyDeleteShawn ~~~ Yes, they certainly do, even more so than paintings or sculpture. Neptune is in his own element here. :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is SO interesting.
ReplyDeleteI have Neptune in Scorpio in the 7th house (opposed Venus) and have always wanted to try my hand at glass blowing. In lieu of that, I have acquired my share of glass jewelry, recycled glass windchimes, various glass blocks to construct shelving, etc.
Also, true confession (and true to my chart): I am a sucker for any man who is a glass artist. This seems to me the perfect combination of masculine mastery of a dangerous craft (can you say, 1500-degree white hot glass? FIRE!) plus the sensitivity to create form and color and beauty. What a turn on! (dreamy-eyed gaze here...)
Great article!! Thanks --
Poet Girl ~~ Ha! That's interesting. I've never actually met a glass-blower or artist in glass, but I did watch a video at a Chihuly exhibition showing how he works - and yes, it's a very dangerous way to make art! Yet the results are so worth it.
ReplyDelete(PS I have Mercury in 7th house and have always been attracted to guys who can write well.) :-)
Twilight ~ Since I've spent the past two days researching someone who worked for Tiffany, I had to add how the Tiffany lamp you showed, "Dragonfly" was actually the creation of one of Tiffany's female artists, Clara Driscoll.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's now known many of Tiffany's most popular lamps and other items were created by Clara and her staff of "Tiffany Girls" (see quote below), the only time she ever received public recognition for her work was when her Dragonfly lamp won the Bronze Medal at the 1900 Paris World's Fair - only because Louis Comfort Tiffany was *required* to list the artist's name.
"It turns out that, for Tiffany, Clara not only headed what the Daily News reporter called “the only shop of women glass cutters in the world.” She herself in time designed many of the most iconic Tiffany leaded-glass lamps—including most insect and floral motifs, from Dragonfly, Cobweb, and Butterfly to Wisteria, Poppy, Laburnum, Arrowhead, Geranium,and others."
"With assistance from Tiffany designer Agnes Northrop and fellow Cleveland art school classmate Alice Carmen Gouvy (also hired by Tiffany), Clara even designed the innovative Flying Fish shade and Deep Sea mosaic and glass-jeweled base. Most researchers now believe it was Clara who originated the entire concept of kerosene- and then electric-powered lamps of leaded glass for Tiffany."
http://www.cia.edu/news/stories/breaking-tiffanys-glass-ceiling-clara-wolcott-driscoll-1861-1944
Clara Driscoll was born December 15, 1861 - with her Neptune in Pisces square her Sagittarius Sun, and Mercury in Sag in mutual reception with Jupiter in Virgo (conjunct Saturn). Also possibly, Moon conjunct Uranus opposite Mercury.
While this in no way takes away from Tiffany's own artistic genius, fair is fair when it comes to credit! According to Clara's letters (which came to light in 2005), Tiffany was very encouraging and respectful of her ideas and talents, though he never publicly acknowledged her contributions, and, like other employers of his time, didn't employ married women.
LB ~ Oh - very interesting. I'm grateful for that additional information. It's right that Clara receives the credit for her beautiful work!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that in each case of the 3 "masters" featured in the post, they didn't make all the masterpieces we recognise all by themselves, but they do take all the credit! Not fair!