Ansolo Fuga (Italian, born 1914), Vase
, c.1952, fused and blown glass, The Modernism Collection, gift of Norwest Bank MinnesotaTuesday, October 16, 2007—Sunday, October 5, 2008
Wells Fargo Center and Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Free Exhibition
A single object type — The Modernist Vase— is the subject of the 19th consecutive modernism exhibition presented at Wells Fargo Center in downtown Minneapolis. For the first time in this annual series, the exhibition is divided between two venues. One section is presented at Wells Fargo Center, Seventh St. and Marquette Ave., Minneapolis, and the other is incorporated into the Minneapolis Institute of Arts Modernism galleries in Target Wing.
Presently, there are more than sixty 20th-century modernist vases in the MIA collection, dating from 1900 to the 1960s, from which the vessels were selected. Traditionally, a vase is an open container, generally used to display cut or dried flowers, made from unlimited media. Form and surface vary considerable, from overall applied decoration to unornamented silhouettes in which the natural properties of the medium become the essential ingredient.
Throughout the 20th century, artists continued to push the boundaries of familiar shapes as well as their expressed purpose, increasingly giving way to sculptural works of pure form and color; their function is often a secondary consideration. Interestingly, vases have served as principal transmitters of cultural styles for centuries due to the relative ease by which they can be transported worldwide.
