Niijima Floats: Garnet Black and Mint Green Float with Dimple

Dale Chihuly, Niijima Floats: Garnet Black and Mint Green Float with Dimple, 1991, blown glass, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dale and Doug Anderson, 1993.46.1
Dale Chihuly, Niijima Floats: Garnet Black and Mint Green Float with Dimple, 1991, blown glass, 18 3⁄4 x 22 3⁄4 x 19 1⁄2 in. (49.7 x 57.8 x 49.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dale and Doug Anderson, 1993.46.1

Artwork Details

Title
Niijima Floats: Garnet Black and Mint Green Float with Dimple
Artist
Date
1991
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
18 3⁄4 x 22 3⁄4 x 19 1⁄2 in. (49.7 x 57.8 x 49.6 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Dale and Doug Anderson
Mediums
Mediums Description
blown glass
Classifications
Object Number
1993.46.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1993.46.1

Artwork Description

Dale Chihuly is an incandescent figure in the American studio glass movement. He began to work with glass in the 1960s, fascinated by its potential to shape light and space. In the 1990s, he began a series of Niijima Floats inspired by glass orbs used by Japanese fishermen to hold their nets in place. The Floats were among the largest glass orbs ever made by inflating molten glass with an artist’s breath. The spellbinding surfaces recall swirling currents of water and gas—wonders of earth and beyond.


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Works by this artist (14 items)

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Dale Chihuly, Untitled (Glass Vessel), 1979, glass, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Diane and Sandy Besser, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2001.71.1, © 1978, Chihuly, Inc.
Untitled (Glass Vessel)
Artist
Date1979
glass
On view
Dale Chihuly, Emerald Green Blanket Cylinder with Cerulean Blue Drawing, 1984, blown glass, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance and museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Fund, 1989.44
Emerald Green Blanket Cylinder with Cerulean Blue Drawing
Artist
Date1984
blown glass
On view
Image Not Available
Seafoam and Amber-Tipped Chandelier
Artist
Date1994
glass and silver leaf
On view
Dale Chihuly, Blanket Cylinder Series, 1984, glass, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Eleanor T. and Samuel J. Rosenfeld, 2002.8.1, © 1984, Dale Chihuly
Blanket Cylinder Series
Artist
Date1984
glass
Not on view

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