Shanghai Museum of Glass Art

Located near Tianzifang, the Shanghai Museum of Glass Art is housed in a brick building that once served as the Shanghai Watch and Plastic Accessories Factory. After half a century of weathering, the structure has been reinforced and renovated to present itself as an exquisite glass building. Despite its modest size, the museum boasts a strong sense of design in both its exterior walls and roof, with over 4800 transparent glass bricks resembling cave rocks embedded in the exterior walls alone. A massive golden peony, 10 meters wide and 5 meters tall, weighing a ton, hangs on the glass wall, seeming to bloom from the glass, making it particularly striking. Especially at night, the glass wall becomes a colorful spectacle under the illumination of lights, resembling an exquisite piece of art. The museum, themed around glass exhibits, spans three floors: the first floor features the LCM Café and a museum gift shop, providing a place for rest and leisure or to purchase glass gifts; the second floor exhibition area displays ancient Chinese glass series, works by world-renowned glass masters, and new works by ten modern international glass artists; the third floor showcases the representative works of artist Yang Huishan, the founder of the glass workshop. It is astonishing to see the ‘Great Vow of This Life’ Guanyin statue, created over a decade, which is a three-dimensional restoration of the Yuan Dynasty murals from the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, standing at 4.5 meters tall and is the only non-glass artwork in the museum, making it a must-see. The incredible glass art master—WHY GLASS International Glass Art Exhibition featuring Steven Weinberg started on March 17th at the Shanghai Museum of Glass Art, marking the museum’s first art exhibition of 2021—’WHY GLASS? Exploring Life and Emotion with LIULI’. The Shanghai Museum of Glass Art has hosted the ‘WHY GLASS’ International Glass Art Series Exhibitions multiple times, which have become a beautiful landscape of glass art in Shanghai due to their popularity. The artworks in the series are a collection of the museum founders Zhang Yi and Yang Huishan’s treasures, tracing the poetic development of glass art. From the vigorous American Studio Glass Movement to the contemporary glass art imbued with Eastern culture in Asia, they have built a comprehensive history of modern glass art for professionals and enthusiasts. This exhibition, in particular, features the series of works ‘Boat Series’ and ‘Clear Cube’ by Steven Weinberg, a representative artist of the American Studio Glass Movement. Known as the American glass casting master, Steven Weinberg has had over two hundred exhibitions worldwide, and more than thirty museums globally have collected his glass art pieces.
Steven Weinberg was the first international glass artist invited after the establishment of the Shanghai Museum of Glass Art. Amidst the surging studio glass movement in 1980, which emphasized rich colors and free shaping of blown glass, Weinberg embarked on his exploration within the transparent inner space, alone. Through his creations, Weinberg transformed glass into an artistic medium that captures the inherent tension of time, showcasing a tranquility that transcends space and time, conveying an incredible viewing experience to visitors. ‘Life is so chaotic and uncontrollable; I strive to find harmony in this disordered world. In the process of creation, I find that peace. Through the process of making objects, I am able to set parameters and make sense of space, whereas my day-to-day life borders on unmanageable chaos. I find peace in the process of making art juxtaposed to the uncertainty of everyday living.’ – Steven Weinberg. The ‘Cube’ on display at the scene is one of Weinberg’s representative works. The unique artistic vision and techniques, the combination of external shaping and internal light and shadow, bring visitors into the frozen time and space constructed by the artist. The ‘Boat’ series, on the other hand, marks another challenging breakthrough, turning every curve of the work into a unity of flow and solidification. The bubbles inside the glass endow the work with an extremely dreamy temperament. Weinberg’s ‘Boat’ series is like a seemingly calm voyage of life, stirring up waves in an instant and stopping in a moment, demonstrating the static beauty of glass art with a powerful internal drive. ‘WHY GLASS? Exploring Life and Emotion with LIULI’ International Glass Art Exhibition showcases representative works of twelve modern international glass art masters. These include the first person in glass art: Émile Gallé; French modern lost-wax casting inheritor and reviver Almaric Walter, François Décorchemont; French modern national treasure glass art master Antoine Leperlier; several artists involved in the studio glass movement such as Ann Wolff, Jay Musler, Kyohei Fujita, Paul Stankard, and Steven Weinberg; and French new generation glass representative artists Lise Gonthier and Gérald Vatrin.

This international glass art exhibition spans a century, showcasing a multitude of brilliant works that allow the vibrant and colorful glass art to reflect the unique humanistic emotions and life explorations of artists. Exhibition location: Shanghai Museum of Glass Art (No. 25 Taikang Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai). Preferential policies for children: Children under 1.2 meters (inclusive) enter for free. Elderly: Seniors aged 65 (inclusive) and above enjoy discounts. Military personnel: Discounts with valid identification. Students: Discounts with valid identification. Police officers: Discounts with valid identification. Teachers: Discounts with valid identification. Disabled individuals: Discounts with valid identification.

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