This is edition #1,000 of the Gazette spanning a five year period. Rather remarkable to have so much to say & learn about Frederick Carder (1863-1963) and his work some 80 years after he stepped down from running the Steuben division of Corning, Inc.; and some 50 years after he finished his active and productive career in his late 90s.

Mr. Carder was fond of saying, “Life is short, art is long” (Hippocrates and Frederick Carder) I think this summarizes Mr. Carder’s view of his life’s works.

As I pause to look back on my past 11 years as a Carder collector I must give credit to my mentor, the late Neil Kohut, a dealer from Las Vegas who took a great deal of time and patience with this novice to impart his philosophies and shared his knowledge on art glass. I’ve saved a couple of e-mail exchanges with Neil to share with you. As a collector, how fortunate I was to have a mentor.

“Durand produced great glass, which has stood the test of time. So who is Victor Larson? In my opinion (you asked) Chihuly has a well earned reputation which I would put in the same class as Martin Bach. Bach also produced some of the finest glass of his time, yet his name is hardly known, because his work at Quezal was too one dimensional. You need to look to Europe to find a glassmaker with great range. Emile Galle fills the bill. Like Tiffany, he worked in many media. His creations set the fashion of the day and is timeless in its appeal. I can think of no one, though who achieved what Carder did in glass. Time will tell. If I am right, when you look at his body of work from Stevens and Williams to Steuben to his studio years, there is no one even approaching his knowledge, skill artistry and level of attainment. There are hundreds of truly wonderful glassmakers in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Not one of them came close to encompassing the awesome mastery of glass that Carder did. While each great glassmaker extracted something wonderful from the glass that set their names in stone, few unlocked much of its mystery. ” 6/8/2001

“While collecting can be done in a vacuum, you are proof of that, when you expand your knowledge it opens new vistas, It truly helps you to understand just how innovative Carder was as well as bringing a new understanding of and appreciation for Carder Steuben. Taken on its own, it can be stunningly beautiful. But there is so much more, as you will see. Each of the masters borrowed from history and gave something new. When you start to see what Carder and Tiffany brought to the fore, you will see with new eyes. Why all the hype about Chihuly is as much about marketing as it is about art. Tiffany was a pure artist. His creations cared little for the practicalities of business. It was all about innovation of design, unlike the fine arts, art glass brings many elements to the table. The artist doesn’t merely work from a palette of colors. As Tiffany showed, so brilliantly, glass plays with light itself. It can reflect, refract and bend that light so as to make the light an element of the design. Rembrandt used light to change painting forever, but the medium itself is stilted when compared to glass. I have said it before, Carder being classically trained, as an artist, had a base to draw on that opened his vision to incorporate the medium to the stiffness and constraint of fine art of the time. He studied the chemistry of the glass and altered the art at its most elemental foundations. As with the greatest masters of any art, he was able to see beyond the medium and recreate its ability to display form and function. Studying Carder and his contemporaries from that level will bring you new found joys and appreciation for just how great Mr. Carder was. I envy you this journey….” 7/17/01

Thank you, Neil; and thank you Mr. Carder.