Descending Arch, 1988

Blown glass; part 1: 16.7 x 11.3 cm

Clarine and Harvey Saks Collection

Littleton (1922 - ) is perhaps the single most important figure in the American studio glass movement. Because his father was director of research for Corning Glass Works, from an early age he had access to glassmaking activities. From 1949 to 1951 Littleton was a ceramics instructor at the Toledo Museum of Art School of Design where he met Dominick Labino, who was destined to supply much of the technical knowledge for early studio glassmakers. In the latter year Littleton earned an M.F.A. in ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art near Detroit and began teaching at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Littleton's interest in glass persisted, but it was not until the Toledo workshops of 1962 that studio glassmaking became more than experimentation for him. Shortly thereafter he established a glassmaking program at Madison in which many future artists in the medium participated. He also became a major artist working with glass.