Stanislav Libenský, Jaroslava Brychtová

the long version

The Czech couple Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova have become the world's leading glass artists over the last 40 years. They have transformed glass into a new substance they call "color in space." Made from clear or colored glass, their sculptures and other objects interact with light to create spectacular optical effects. This major monograph is the first comprehensive documentation of Libensky and Brychtova's unparalleled creations. Offering a critical and historical survey of their work, the book includes illustrations of Brychtovas pate de verre of the late 1940s, Libensky's early enameled glasses and tableware designs, and the collaborative sculpture and architectural commissions that began in the 1950s and continue to the present day. The text explores the artists' stylistic and technical development, their role as educators and designers and their work in the context of European art since the Second World War. The book tells the fascinating story of how their art thrived in spite of the political constraints of the former Czechoslovakian state. Ironically, without their connections with industry and government their work would never have achieved its scale.