Dale Chihuly 1979 Signed Peach Tabac Basket with Navajo Blanket Shard Hand Blown Glass

Artist: Dale Chihuly
Title: Peach Tabac Basket
Medium: Hand Blown Glass
Dimensions: 5" x 7 1/2" x 7 1/2"
Year: 1979
Inscription: Signed and dated "Chihuly '79"
Documentation: Includes gallery certificate of authenticity

During the 1970s, Dale Chihuly began a series of works that laid the groundwork for the type of innovation that would come to define the rest of his career. The early and mid-70s were defined by Chihuly's more typically shaped Cylinders and Soft Cylinders, which evolved into his more asymmetrical and atypical Baskets series in 1977. This 1979 example shows us a transition point between the series, giving a glimpse of Chihuly's creative process where a standard form is allowed to absorb the organic, bulbous, shifts natural in glassblowing.

In his Cylinders series, Chihuly experimented with several techniques including the insertion of shard drawings and threads, both of which can be seen in this 1979 Peach Tabac basket. Peach colors are exceptionally rare in Chihuly's body of work and are typically only seen from the mid-70s to early 80s.

Dale Chihuly's 1979 Peach Tabac Basket is signed and dated "Chihuly '79" and comes with a gallery certificate of authenticity.

About Dale Chihuly

One of the most famous contemporary glass artists in the world, Dale Chihuly is best known for his monumental sculptures and installations. He is the name behind the spectacular ceiling at the Bellagio’s flower garden in Las Vegas and the creator of the Rotunda Chandelier at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Glass works of Dale Chihuly are considered some of the most desired collectibles between the decorative arts devotees today.

Despite his initial indifference towards education, Chihuly has spent a lot of time in school, obtaining both scientific and artistic degree in sculpture from prestigious graduate schools. He displayed a proclivity for interior design and craft early on, but his true passion was always in the glass. He was a Fulbright Fellow in the late 1960s and an apprentice at the Venini Glass Factory in Venice. Mastering the art of Murano glasswork, he continued the experiments with glassblowing and thus became one of the people who brought the ancient art of glassblowing back into the spotlight on an international scale.

Monumental and small-scale artwork of Dale Chihuly is present in over 200 most renowned decorative art collections today, while the artist holds twelve honorary doctorates!

The most illustrious series in his work are Cylinders and Baskets he created in the 1970s; Macchia, Venetians, and Persians from the 1980s, Niijima Floats and Chandeliers created in the 1990s; and a more recent one, Fiori from the 2000s.

For over 30 years, Dale Chihuly has been acting as an artistic director of his team of craftsmen, since he was incapacitated in two accidents, which left him blind in one eye and incapable of holding the blowing tube. This change allowed him to see the possibilities of glass work on a broader scale, while still maintaining his recognizable style.