Form thumbnail 1
Form thumbnail 2
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Form

1959 (made)
Artist/Maker
Borské Sklo Glassworks (maker)
Roubicek, René (maker)
Place of origin
Nový Bor (made)

Irregular three-legged form with applied twists and bubbles of glass and applications pushed into the body of the form.

Object details

Object type
Form
Materials and techniques
Blue glass, hand-blown and hot-worked
Glass
Hand-Blown
Hot-Worked
Brief description
Form, blue glass, blown, René Roubicek at Borské sklo glassworks, Nový Bor, Czechoslovakia, 1959
Physical description
Irregular three-legged form with applied twists and bubbles of glass and applications pushed into the body of the form.
Dimensions
  • Height: 46cm
  • Width: 28cm
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
'Roubicek 1959' (Signature; incised; Roubicek; 1959)
Gallery label
(08/06/1998)
Decorative sculpture
Glass, hand-blown and hot-worked
René Roubi ek (b.1922), 1959
Borské sklo glassworks, Nový Bor, Czechoslovakia
C.21-1998
Gift of Dan Klein

This work is highly characteristic of Roubi ek's work whilst director of the design office of the Borské sklo glassworks between 1952 and 1965. The year before this piece was made he had been awarded a Grand Prize at the world fair, Expo 58, held in Brussels. Although Roubi ek did not give the piece a formal title, it has been referred to since as ‘Kohlrabi' and ‘Beast'.
Credit line
Gift of Dan Klein
Object history
Unique variant on a form made by the artist in numbers at this period. Referred to by the Hentrich Collection in Düsseldorf as 'Kohlrabi' and by the donor as 'Beast' but not entitled by the artist himself.

Historical significance: The artist won a Grand Prize at Expo 58 in Brussels and this is probably the best known type of his work, now regarded as a classic Roubicek form. It is unusual among Czech glass art for being hand-blown and not cast.
Production
Made at Borské sklo glassworks, Nový Bor, Czechoslovakia.

Reason For Production: Retail
Bibliographic references
  • Pétrova, Sylva and Jean-Luc Olivié, Bohemian Glass, Paris, 1990, p.184.
  • Crowley, David and Jane Pavitt, eds., Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970. London: V&A, 2008, p.148. ill.
Other number
9631 - Glass gallery number
Collection
Ceramics Collection
Accession number
C.21-1998

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Record createdAugust 26, 1998
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O8905/form-roubicek-rené/
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