How many art glass pieces have a name? How many pieces have there own unique identity and history? What happened to the second Goddess Electra candlestick?

Let’s start in 1932. Frederick Carder, a co-founder and manager of Steuben Glass Works from 1903 to 1932, became the “Art Director” at the Corning Glass Works (owner of Steuben Glass)and was assigned to a small studio at the factory. Thus, at age 69 Mr. Carder began his studio glass period. This was a period of new experimental activity. One of Mr. Carder’s great contributions to the glass world was the recreation and perfection of the Roman process of casting glass. The “Lost Wax Process”. This technique allowed for intricate designs in glass; a process since adopted widely by many glass artists. This process, also known as Cire Perdue, permitted intricate glass sculptures. Because of the need to first create wax models followed by the use of plaster molds, only single or few pieces of any item were possible.

As 1939 approached and the Cire Perdue process was growing in sophistication, as Mr. Carder’s experiments were progressing Mr. Carder was asked to prepare something to
honor Thomas Alva Edison on the 60th Anniversary of the creation of the electric incandescent light bulb. No—I didn’t say the 50th Anniversary, where Mr. Carder famously created the 350 pieces of an intaglio panel portrait of Thomas A. Edison in a metal base that were given as favors by Henry Ford on the grand opening of the Henry Ford Museum.

This Cire Perdue piece was created for yet another dinner honoring the now deceased Mr. Edison. Where did the dinner take place? We’ve searched high and low and just don’t know. Ed Bush of Painted Post, New York, has done yeoman service in searching. He’s gone through Mr. Carder’s papers and can’t find reference to the commission or the dinner. Ed discovered that on the 50th anniversary date of August 12, 1939 it was Edison Night at the New York ’s World Fair exhibit where a large number of events paying respect to Edison ’s many inventions took place. A likely choice of place for the dinner?

But, then Ed further found that on May 29, 1939 that a testimonial dinner attended by Edison’s widow, Mrs. Mina M. Edison Hughes and many dignitaries was held in Newark, New Jersey to celebrate Edison Day (February 11) and the 92nd birthday of Edison. That sounds like another good possibility.

However, Ed next asked the Curator of American Glass, Jane Shadel Spillman, at Corning Museum of Glass for her help in the research. Jane recalled that GE’s Lighting Division is based in Cleveland at Nela Park . Maybe, that is a likely place for such a dinner? However, they have no historian and limited institutional memory. So, why is the place of the dinner so important?

Well, what we know is that Mr. Carder created a pair of Cire Perdue candlesticks with a figure on each side of the candlestick. See picture below. The sticks have a name, “Electra” (presumably, the Greek goddess of light or the youngest of six Maidens of Light). That name appears in the Grover book, Art Glass Nouveau.

After the dinner, so the story goes, one of the pair of sticks disappeared, leaving the one pictured below as the only survivor. Was it tossed in the trash? Was it taken and disposed of in some other way? The candlestick that survived was sold to Ray & Lee Grover, and in turn was later sold to Matt Donahue of Cleveland. The Donahue family understand the name to be “Mazda”, the Greek god of light. In fact, “Mazda” was the advertising name for their light bulb name for some considerable period.

So questions abound. Some 70+ years later, is the mate in existence somewhere? Will it yet surface? Where was the dinner? It has been suggested that the name “Electra” somehow has a connection to Maxwell Parish designs. Parish did ethereal female figures for marketing Edison Mazda Light Bulbs produced by General Electric prior to 1932. All this leads to the question of what was the inspiration to Mr. Carder for the unusual female figure on the candlesticks?

Lots of questions. If anyone has any thoughts, knowledge or inspiration—please let me know.

Alan Shovers
Evansville , Indiana
March 3, 2010