Dale Chihuly 1978 Signed Burgundy Basket Hand Blown Glass

Artist: Dale Chihuly
Title: Burgundy Basket
Medium: Hand Blown Glass
Dimensions: 5.5" x 5" x 5"
Year: 1978
Inscription: Signed and dated "Chihuly '78"
Documentation: Includes gallery certificate of authenticity

Dale Chihuly's 1970s glass art is known for its organic forms, natural color pallet, and innovative details. The use of threads, shard drawings, American Native blanket motifs, and line detailing are all prevalent in this era as Chihuly explored what was possible with the blowpipe and color application techniques.

Chihuly began the 1970s with his Cylinders series, a collection of more traditionally shaped vessels. By the mid-1970s, he manipulated the boundaries of the Cylinders series into something a bit more exploratory with his Soft Cylinders. The soft cylinders introduced more bulbous shapes, adding unexpected curves and movement to the previously straight up-and-down cylinders. In 1977, he further pushed the boundaries of traditional glass shapes and embarked on his Baskets series. The basket series is underscored by its asymmetry and exploration of gravity, featuring distinctly rounded shapes compared to the cylinders and soft cylinders.

Dale Chihuly's 198 Burgundy Basket is signed and dated "Chihuly '78" 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.