Glass art of the Netherlands.

The Glasmuseum Immenhausen has frequently highlighted glass artists and artworks from individual countries or regions. Now the museum focuses on Holland, where glassmaking enjoys a long tradition. An enviable reputation had already been earned in the 16th century by Dutch glassware à la façon de Venise, i.e. elaborate glasses for the dining table in the tradition of Venetian winged goblets, which Dutch merchants sold on the Continent and overseas. With a tradition dating to 1765, the glass factory in Leerdam is important for today’s lively Dutch glass scene. Andries Dirk Copier, an important Dutch glass artist of the 20th century, initially designed utilitarian glassware for this factory and later collaborated with glassmakers at the kiln to develop the Unica series, which ranks among the predecessors of studio glass. Founded in 1953, the Foundation of the National Glass Museum in Leerdam houses both a comprehensive collection and its own glassworks, where artistic glassware is produced. Holland’s first glass school was established in Leerdam in 1943. The glass artist Sybren Valkema set up the first glass kiln and initiated a curriculum in glassmaking in 1965 at the Amsterdam School of Arts and Crafts, which was later renamed the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Many of the artists who are participating in the Glaskunst der Niederlande [Glass Art of the Netherlands] exhibition were trained at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy.