Author Description

The development of glassmaking in what is now the Czech Republic is rightly regarded as a tradition of extraordinary importance, one that extends beyond crafts history and impacts on such fields as technology and social history. From Neuwelt to the Whole World is a thoroughly researched art-historical survey of the varied output of the Harrach glassworks in Neuwelt, in the Krkonoe Mountains. Now 300 years old, the Harrach glassworks has played a progressive and often determining role in every stage of Bohemia's evolving glass production, from its Baroque beginnings, through the Biedermeier and Revival styles, to Art Nouveau, Decorativism and the innovations of the 1950s, right up to the present day. One recognizes, throughout, the outstanding ability of Czech glassmakers to respond to technological advances, stylistic changes and external stimuli. No surprise, then, that Bohemian glassmaking has so often been a leader in European fine craft.