Tear wine glass 1894 - 1904

Editor: Here we have Harry Powell’s “Tear wine glass”, crafted between 1894 and 1904. It's currently housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's primarily glass and has such an elegant design. What do you make of the use of this material in creating decorative art objects such as this wine glass? Curator: What strikes me first is the inherent contradiction in elevating something crafted for domestic use – a wine glass, no less - into an object of art. How does the act of display within a museum transform its cultural meaning? It ceases to be a functional object of consumption, and becomes instead a comment on labor, the processes of glassblowing, and perhaps the social rituals of wine drinking themselves. Editor: So, you are suggesting that simply because it’s exhibited in a museum now, our appreciation shifts from the function to the materials and craftsmanship? Curator: Precisely. The materiality of the glass, the very skill required to shape it so delicately, becomes foregrounded. Consider also the green glass "tears" - are they merely decorative, or do they allude to something deeper about emotion, social events where wine would have been drunk, and even potentially human labor involved in production? Editor: I see. It’s like the wine glass is a symbol laden with socio-economic factors embedded in the craftsmanship and utility of the object. How interesting. I'll never look at a decorative art piece the same way again. Curator: Exactly. Analyzing how materials and processes intersect with societal contexts offers invaluable insight to pieces of this period.