INTRODUCTION 
The glass of the fifties is represented in the 
glass coilection of the Austrian Museum of 
Applied Art by items from Italy, Scandinavia, 
Germany and Austria. The present catalogue 
covers all glassware of Italian origin. The 
items are mainly Contemporary acquisitions 
(donations and purchases) that found their 
way into the museum on the occasion of va- 
rious exhibitions. These are supplemented 
by a few more recent acquisitions. 
The catalogue is divided into three main sec- 
tions. The first section deals with the glass of 
the twenties, some of which is still in produc- 
tion today, while the second is the actual cat 
alogue section. This is followed by extensive 
documentation of Contemporary iilustrations. 
Ten pieces of glass came to the museum in 
the year 1927 as a donation from the Venini 
Company (Figs. 1, 6-8, 10, 11, 14, 17-22), 
though they were inventoried only in 1931. 
Most of this glass was designed by Napole- 
one Martinuzzi, though there is a possibility 
that there are also some older designs from 
the previous firm of Cappellin-Venini. A se 
cond group of glassware, described in the 
inventory as “Venice, about 1920”, was sub- 
sequently inventoried in 1940 (Figs. 9, 12, 13, 
15, 16, 23-26, one chandelier is not illus- 
trated). The circumstances under which 
these pieces were acquired are not known, 
and the only indication of their origin is a 
label of the Venini Company on a bottle 
(Fig. 16). This would point to their having 
been made after 1925, as Venini and Cappel- 
lin split up in 1925 and the firm of Venini & C. 
existed only after this date. Two pieces of 
glass designed by the Viennese firm of Bi- 
mini and produced by Venini (Figs. 27, 28) 
are donations from Maria Günter. 
The inventory of glassware of the fifties 
(principally products of the Murano firms of 
Venini, Seguso & C., Archimede Seguso, 
Barovier & Toso) goes back mainly to Con 
temporary acquisitions (documents pre- 
served in the museum - Figs. 2-5 - refer to 
donations and purchases) with several addi- 
tions in recent years (cat. nos. 1-4, 9, 14-18, 
34, 38, 44, 47, 49-53). 
A small centrepiece with an etched surface 
(“vetri corrosi”) forms a link between the 
Venini glass of the twenties and that of the 
fifties. First exhibited at the Milan Triennale 
in 1933, this piece was certainly also pro 
duced later (cat. no. 1). Other Venini glass 
ware in the coilection includes a green-blue 
streaked bottle, a particularly attractive vase 
in “vetro pezzato” (patchwork glass) 
(cat. no. 6), a delicate iridescent bowl with 
picturesque decoration (cat. no. 7), mosaic 
glass (“vetro murrino”) (cat. no. 10), Strip, 
thread and net ornamentation (“vetro latti- 
cino", “filigrano”, “zanfirico”) (cat. nos. 8, 
11-16, 18, 19), and a “handkerchief” (“fazzo- 
letto”) of cased glass (cat. no. 17). A sep 
arate group is formed by the “vetri incisi” 
(cat. nos. 20-26), single or multicoloured 
glass with a cut surface of rough mat struc- 
ture. 
The glass by Flavio Poli for Seguso exhibits a 
clear beauty: the shell-shaped “valva” (cat. 
no. 27), a monumental bowf (cat. no. 28) and 
other cased glass (cat. nos. 29, 31, 32, 34, 
35, 38), the blue “sunfish” (cat. no. 33) with 
pale pink edges, the dark vase blue-black in 
colour with an austere Silhouette (cat. 
no. 37) and two grotesque dwarves of green 
glass with an etched, slightly iridescent sur 
face (cat. nos. 39, 40). 
Archimede Seguso is represented by three 
very different pieces of glass: a bowl with 
white feathers (“con piume bianche”, 
cat. no. 41), a bowl with spiral amethyst and 
white stripes (“centro fasce ametista bi- 
anco”, cat. no. 42), and a vase with irregulär 
thread ornamentation (“vaso nastro ametista 
fili bianchi”, cat. no. 43). Barovier & Toso are 
represented chiefly by exhibits with planes 
intersecting at right angles to one another 
(“vetro parabolico”, cat. no. 46). One bowl 
receives its structure from trapped air bub- 
bles of various sizes (cat. no. 48), and a 
small ribbed bowl with gold' inlays (cat. 
no. 49) leads over to a glass (cat. no. 50) 
which with its cheerful colourfulness is simi- 
lar to the vivid colours which distinguish the 
designs of Dino Martens for Aureliano Toso. 
Two further pieces of glass whose origin is 
not yet quite certain are characterised by 
massive glass with circular perforations (cat. 
nos. 51, 52), while the glass-metal bird with 
millefiori eyes (cat. no. 53) can probably be 
attributed to Vistosi. 
Though this coilection of Italian glass of the 
fifties cannot Claim to be complete, it is sig- 
nificant due to the fact that the pieces were 
acquired at the time, thus ensuring their ori 
gin and dating. This is an inestimable advan- 
tage in view of the many missing archives 
(the archives of the Venini Company, for ex- 
ample, which were destroyed by fire). 
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