Friday, October 19, 2012

Gerry Eggert provides some perspective on respecting and honoring Mr. Carder

Alan,

Bob Mueller has his heart in the right direction; however we need to work with CMoG to highlight Fred Carder and his artistic talent. He was an artist of the first order. We should strive to have the full force of his talent highlighted, like museums do with Dale Chuley.

We have not done Carder well. He was every much an artist as was Georgia O’Keefe, yet, in my opinion, he does not get the recognition.

Gerry

Rande Bly of Birmingham, Alabama responds to comments generated from Mr.Carder recording on Rouge Flambé

First, JoAnn Godawa I would treasure a copy of the recorded interview. I have a great collection of original adds, Gardner’s black and white photos and other near impossible information to gather and have wanted a copy of the interview for some time now. So please, please send me one and thank you soooooo much! Let me take a moment and thank all of the many of you who have sent me original documentation to assist me with my research. I am so grateful!

Mr Bob Rockwell told me that the Rouge Flambe pieces dated about 1916. I agreed and felt this was correct. There was huge problems at that time and would “fly” as you said. They probably spent more time sweeping it up off the floor than they did making it. I have suspicions it could have been a little more opaque and a slightly different mix during this experimental stage.

It dropped out of sight and surfaced again in 1926. It was advertised as Rouge Flamme and still called Rouge Flambe in the line drawings. I have information it was possibly was a little more translucent and orange in color. It was 10 years later and possibly a slightly different formula that was more stable and controllable. When Carder said he made it for about a year I believe he was talking about the 1926 period. In Gardner’s book on page 282 line drawings I have recorded at least a minimum of 9 to a maximum of 14 shapes Rouge Flambe comes in on that page alone.

In 1926 five pieces of Rouge Flambe were shown in an exhibition at the Ferargil Galleries, 37 East 57th Street New York City, NY.

If we are to find some of these 50 pieces that are out there we have to widen our search to include pieces of obvious shape that may be a little more orange in color and more translucent than we might imagine.

Now comes added confusion. David Chadwick-Brown has shown us a signed red plate. We have seen the same type plate go through major auction houses on occasion. All who have seen it seem to agree it is Steuben. At first glance it looks like Rouge Flambe. Upon closer inspection it is more like red Selenium Jade. It has an unstirred swirl of a white material visible from the ground bottom. It appears to be either Alabaster or Opalescent. This is exactly how Ericson described Cardinal Red and his example was also a plate.

Final Summation: I think we are probably seeing 3 types of glass here

1.) 1916 Experimental Rouge Flambe (very rare)

2.) 1926 Production Rouge Flambe ( approx 50 pieces)

3.) Cardinal Red (not Rouge Flambe but more of a red jade)

I kept trying to force them into two categories when it was actually three.

Let’s add one more twist to this puzzle. We have always been aware of the glass being unstable and cracking or blowing up. A few of us were aware that Rouge Flambe can actually get very orange in color and still be acceptable. The new twist is that when it got out of control it could change from nearly opaque to translucent to transparent. Today I will show again the piece from Carder’s desk that shows all these features. We were told by Frank Blake that Carder kept this piece on his desk to remind himself just how impossible this color was.

I personally have missed out on three pieces of Rouge Flambe in obvious Steuben shapes because I thought they were too orange and too translucent. I promise everybody equipped with this new information I will not miss the fourth one. If orangish-red Rouge Flambe is good enough for the Corning Museum it is good enough for me.

Rande Bly

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2013 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 19-21, 2013. The festivities will begin with Frederick Carder’s 150th birthday celebration on the evening of September 18, 2013.