Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano 

An artwork image of a woman

Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano brings to life the Venetian glass revival of the late nineteenth century and the artistic experimentation the city inspired for visiting artists. It is the first comprehensive examination of American tourism, artmaking, and art collecting in Venice, revealing the glass furnaces and their new creative boom as a vibrant facet of the city’s allure.

Description

Though the Venetian island of Murano has been a leading center of glass-making since the middle ages, today’s thriving industry stems from a burst in production between 1860 and 1915. In this era, Murano glassmakers began specializing in delicate and complex hand-blown vessels, dazzling the world with brilliant colors and virtuoso sculptural flourishes. This glass revival coincided with a surge in Venice’s popularity as a destination for tourists, leading to frequent depictions of Italian glassmakers and glass objects by artists from abroad. American painters and their patrons visited the glass furnaces, and many collected ornate goblets and vases decorated with flowers, dragons, and sea creatures. Venetian glass vessels, and also glass mosaics, quickly became more than souvenirs—these were esteemed as museum-quality works of fine art.

Moreover, the inventions of Murano’s master glassmakers established Venice as a center for artistic experimentation. Sojourns in Venice were turning points for John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and scores of artists who followed in their footsteps, often referencing the glass industry in their works. Featuring more than 140 objects, this exhibition presents a choice selection of glass vessels in conversation with paintings, watercolors, and prints by the many talented American artists who found inspiration in Venice. This juxtaposition reveals the impact of Italian glass on American art, literature, design theory, and science education, as well as ideas at the time about gender, labor, and class relations.

In addition to works by Sargent and Whistler, the exhibition features paintings and prints by Frank Duveneck, Thomas Moran, William Merritt Chase, Maurice Prendergast, Maxfield Parrish, Louise Cox, and Ellen Day Hale. These are featured alongside rarely seen Venetian glass mosaic portraits and glass cups, vases, and urns by the leading glassmakers of Murano, including members of the legendary Seguso, Barovier, and Moretti families. Remarkable works from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection join loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and dozens of other distinguished public and private collections.

For Sargent, Whistler, and many of their patrons, Venetian glassware was irresistibly beautiful, and collecting these exquisite vessels expressed respect for both history and innovation. By recreating their transatlantic journey—from the furnaces of Murano to American parlors and museums—this exhibition and catalogue will bring to life the creative energy that beckoned nineteenth-century tourists and artists to Venice. This spirit spawned the renowned Venice Biennale contemporary art festival, and it lives on in Venetian glassmakers’ continued commitment to excellence.

The exhibition is organized by Crawford Alexander Mann III, curator of prints and drawings at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 

Visiting Information

October 8, 2021 May 8, 2022
Open Daily, 11:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m
Free Admission

Tour Schedule

Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, DC
October 8, 2021 May 8, 2022
Amon Carter Museum of American Art
Fort Worth, TX
June 25, 2022 September 11, 2022
Mystic Seaport Museum
Mystic, CT
October 15, 2022 February 27, 2023

Publications

A cover of the exhibition catalogue for Sargent, Whistler & Venetian Glass
Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano
Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano presents a broad exploration of American engagement with Venice’s art world in the late nineteenth century. During this time, Americans in Venice not only encountered a floating city of palaces, museums, and churches, but also countless shop windows filled with dazzling specimens of brightly colored glass. This lavishly illustrated book examines exquisitely crafted glass pieces alongside paintings, watercolors, and prints of the same era by American artists who found inspiration in Venice, including Frank Duveneck, Ellen Day Hale, Thomas Moran, Maria Oakey Dewing, Robert Frederick Blum, Charles Caryl Coleman, Louise Cox, Maurice Prendergast, and Maxfield Parrish, in addition to John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler.

Installation Images

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      Travel to Venice and explore the dazzling glass revival of the nineteenth century and its influence on American artists in Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum from October 8, 2021, to May 8, 2022. Featuring more than 140 objects, it is the first comprehensive examination of American tourism, artmaking, and art collecting in Venice, revealing the glass furnaces and their new creative boom as a vibrant facet of the city’s allure. Watch as Crawford Alexander Mann III, curator of the exhibition, introduces you to a selection of rarely seen glass vessels presented alongside paintings, watercolors, and prints by artists like John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and more. 
       
      Discover more on the Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano exhibition page.

       

      Credit

      Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Generous support has been provided by The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Embassy of Italy in Washington DC, Chris G. Harris, the Raymond J. and Margaret Horowitz Endowment, Janet and William Ellery James, William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment Fund, Maureen and Gene Kim, The Lunder Foundation—Peter and Paula Lunder Family, Lucy S. Rhame, Holly and Nick Ruffin, the Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Awards, Rick and Lucille Spagnuolo, and Myra and Harold Weiss.

      The accompanying catalogue is supported in part by Jane Joel Knox.

      This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

      In-kind support has been provided by Christie’s.

      The MAECI Ambasciata Italia logo
      The Italian Embassy's 160 Logo

      SAAM Stories

      Detail of painting of woman with dark hair holding a blue object
      Exhibitions10/05/2021
      An interview with the curator of Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano
      A photograph of Anne Showalter in front of Superhighway.
      Anne Showalter
      Digital Interpretation Specialist
      A photograph of Alex Man by Libby Weiler.
      Alex Mann
      Former Curator (Prints and Drawings)
      Diorama showing a miniaturized corner of a room with small paintings and glass
      How John Gellatly’s eclectic collection of fine and decorative arts took over his New York home and six rooms in the Heckscher Building
      A photograph of a woman.
      Katie Hondorf
      Public Affairs Specialist
      Two glass goblets side by side. The left has serpents on the stem, the right is a floral design.
      Take a closer look at four fabulous glasses to inspire a virtual celebratory toast to 2022
      A photograph of a woman.
      Katie Hondorf
      Public Affairs Specialist
      A Byzantine necklace
      Uncovering the secrets of one of SAAM’s treasures
      A photograph of a woman standing in an art gallery with busts behind her.
      Ariel O'Connor
      Objects Conservator
      Sarah Montonchaikul
      Conservator pulling a print from the sink of water
      SAAM conservator Kate Maynor explains the delicate process of washing paper
      Kate Maynor
      Roman glass bowl
      Go behind-the-scenes with conservators who make a fascinating discovery about a rarely seen Roman glass bowl
      Katya Zinsli

      Online Gallery

      Artists

      Alice Pike Barney, <i>Self Portrait in Repose</i>, ca. 1895, pastel on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum,Gift of Laura Dreyfus Barney and Natalie Clifford Barney in memory of their mother, Alice Pike Barney  1957.13.17.
      Alice Pike Barney
      born Cincinnati, OH 1857-died Los Angeles, CA 1931

      Born in Cincinnati, lived in various places, including Paris, Washington, D.C., and Hollywood. Artist, playwright, patron of the arts.

      Media - portrait_image_113460.jpg - 89934
      Robert Frederick Blum
      born Cincinnati, OH 1857-died New York City 1903

      A native of Cincinnati, Blum studied drawing with Frank Duveneck while still a youth. At the age of sixteen, he was first exposed to Japanese art and crafts, an interest that remained with him throughout his life.

      Arthur B. Carles
      born Philadelphia, PA 1882-died Chestnut Hill, PA 1952
      Media - J0001378_1b.jpg - 87619
      William Merritt Chase
      born Williamsburg, IN 1849-died New York City 1916

      Painter and teacher.

      Media - J0001409_1b.jpg - 87625
      Kenyon Cox
      born Warren, OH 1856-died New York City 1919

      Born in Ohio, studied in Paris, lived mostly in New York City. Painter who wrote extensively about art.

      Media - cox_louise.jpg - 89973
      Louise Cox
      American, 1865 - 1945

      Born in San Francisco, lived in New York City. Painter who specialized in children's portraits, won several prizes.

      Maria Oakey Dewing
      born New York City 1845-died New York City 1927

      Maria Oakey Dewing and her husband, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, spent the summers from 1885 to 1905 at an artists' colony in Cornish, New Hampshire. There they cultivated the large garden that Maria studied and painted.

      Media - J0001495_1b.jpg - 87666
      Frank Duveneck
      born Covington, KY 1848-died Cincinnati, OH 1919

      Kentucky-born painter and teacher. He studied at the Munich Academy and developed a loose, broad painting style in the manner of Hals and Rembrandt.

      Media - gay_walter.jpg - 90006
      Walter Gay
      born Hingham, MA 1856-died Breau, France 1937

      An expatriate who left Boston for Brittany, Gay began his career with genre scenes from eighteenth-century life, shifting in 1884 to the kind of realistic peasant picture seen in Novembre Étaples [SAAM, 1977.111].

      Margaret Lesley Bush Brown, <i>Ellen Day Hale</i>, 1910, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum,Gift of Arthur Hale  1921.5.2.
      Ellen Day Hale
      born Worcester, MA 1855-died Brookline, MA 1940

      Born February 11, 1855, in Worcester, Mass., the daughter of the Rev. Edward Everett Hale. In Boston, 1873–78. Studied with William Rimmer, 1873, and with William Morris Hunt and Helen Knowlton, 1874–77. In Philadelphia, 1878-79.

      Hermann Herzog
      born Bremen, Germany 1831-died Philadelphia, PA 1932
      William Bagdatopoulos, <i>Dr. William Henry Holmes</i>, 1929, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum,Gift of the artist  1931.6.4.
      William Henry Holmes
      born Cadiz, OH 1846-died Royal Oak, MI 1933

      Holmes led a remarkably varied life as an anthropologist, archaeologist, artist, draftsman, explorer, geologist, government official, and museum director. While studying under Theodor Kaufmann in 1871 in Washington, D.C., he met Fielding B.

      Media - J0001697_1b.jpg - 89277
      Winslow Homer
      born Boston, MA 1836-died Prout's Neck, ME 1910

      Painter and graphic artist. Homer's illustrations of the Civil War for Harper's Weekly are singular and outstanding examples of wartime reporting.

      Nelly McKenzie Tolman, <i>Mrs. Bertha E. Jaques</i>, 1936, watercolor on ivory, Smithsonian American Art Museum,Bequest of Bertha E. Jaques  1941.6.1.
      Bertha E. Jaques
      born Covington, OH 1863-died Chicago IL 1941

      Jaques was already a respected printmaker when she began making cyanotype photograms of wildflowers. An active member of the Wild Flower Preservation Society, she created over a thousand of these botanical images.

      Media - J0001991_1b.jpg - 89335
      Thomas Moran
      born Bolton, England 1837-died Santa Barbara, CA 1926

      Landscape painter. Influenced by J.M.W. Turner, Moran is best remembered for his idealized views of the American West.

      Walter L. Palmer
      born Albany, NY 1854-died Albany, NY 1932
      Maxfield Parrish
      born Philadelphia, PA 1870-died Plainfield, NH 1966

      Maxfield Parrish was educated at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in his native city of Philadelphia. He also studied with the renowned illustrator Howard Pyle, who was an important influence on his work.

      Maurice Prendergast
      born St. John's, Newfoundland 1858-died New York City 1924

      Born in Newfoundland, studied and lived in Boston and Paris, also visited Venice.

      Mabel Pugh
      born Morrisville, NC 1891-died Raleigh, NC 1986
      Media - rogers_john.jpg - 90524
      John Rogers
      born Salem, MA 1829-died New Canaan, CT 1904

      Born in Massachusetts, later lived in Chicago and New York City.

      Media - J0073859_1b.jpg - 89745
      Ernest David Roth
      born Stuttgart, Germany 1879-died Cambridge, NY 1964
      Media - J0002143_1b.jpg - 89364
      John Singer Sargent
      born Florence, Italy 1856-died London, England 1925

      Painter. Sargent traveled in a circle of socially prominent people and is known for his loosely painted portraits done in a style reminiscent of Edgar Degas and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

      Francis Hopkinson Smith
      born Baltimore, MD 1838-died New York City 1915
      Julius LeBlanc Stewart
      born Philadelphia, PA 1855-died Paris, France 1919
      Herman A. Webster
      born New York City 1878-died France 1970
      Alice Pike Barney, <i>James Abbott McNeill Whistler</i>, 1898, pastel on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum,Gift of Laura Dreyfus Barney and Natalie Clifford Barney in memory of their mother, Alice Pike Barney  1951.14.110.
      James McNeill Whistler
      born Lowell, MA 1834-died London, England 1903

      James Abbott McNeill Whistler was born in the industrial town of Lowell, Massachusetts. Inducted into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he accumulated so many demerits that he became a sore trial to the then-commandant Major Robert E. Lee.

      Media - portrait_image_113472.jpg - 90266
      Irving R. Wiles
      born Utica, NY 1861-died Peconic, NY 1948

      In his heyday—the first quarter of the twentieth century—Irving Wiles was one of the most successful portrait painters in the United States.