Japan’s glass industry after the Meiji Restoration (1868) developed primarily around the need to produce glass panes for Western-style architecture. In this context, Iwata Toshichi was one of the first artists to focus on glass as a material for self-expression. Iwata, who had studied various techniques, including painting, sculpture, metal engraving, and lacquer work, chose glass after meeting the Western-style painter Okada Saburosuke. At a time when glass was generally thought to be colorless and transparent, Okada returned from France with samples of warm, opaque glass that fascinated Iwata and prompted him to enter the world of colored glass. This work is one of the Shellfish series produced after 1960. A streaking pattern is created through the use of yellow, navy blue, and white-colored glass, which is then twisted and shaped into the form of a conch shell.
(HASEGAWA Tamao)
Japan’s glass industry after the Meiji Restoration (1868) developed primarily around the need to produce glass panes for Western-style architecture. In this context, Iwata Toshichi was one of the first artists to focus on glass as a material for self-expression. Iwata, who had studied various techniques, including painting, sculpture, metal engraving, and lacquer work, chose glass after meeting the Western-style painter Okada Saburosuke. At a time when glass was generally thought to be colorless and transparent, Okada returned from France with samples of warm, opaque glass that fascinated Iwata and prompted him to enter the world of colored glass. This work is one of the Shellfish series produced after 1960. A streaking pattern is created through the use of yellow, navy blue, and white-colored glass, which is then twisted and shaped into the form of a conch shell.
(HASEGAWA Tamao)