In the early 1850s , a youthful Czech artificer namedLeopold Blaschkalost both his married woman and father in quick succession . In an attempt to incur some sculptural relief for his grief , Blaschka set out on a year - longsighted journey to the United States , hoping to indulge some of his passionateness for raw history . When breaking wind becalmed his ship in the Azores for two weeks , he became fascinated with the bioluminescent jellyfish in the waters , the like of which he had never run into before . A member of a family of glassmakers go away back to15thcentury Venice , it was n’t long before he imagined creating these tool — and other leatherneck invertebrates that had fascinated him in the waters — out of field glass .
By the end of the nineteenth century , Leopold and his Word Rudolf had created a flourishing business in Dresden , Germany , manufacturing at least700 types of modelsof marine creatures in ice , with contact of enamel , theme , and paint . The models ( father and Word are say to have bring forth over 10,000 total ) attend to as teaching assistance and often - low-cost cosmetic curios all around the world , ending up as far off as New Zealand and India . They played into the era ’s fascination with natural history , and provided a way to see conformation of spirit impossible to preserve in taxidermy , slippery to capture as wet specimens , and loosely inaccessible at the time in their rude home ground .
As lifelike as they were , the model were eventually forgotten after picture taking and video came on the scene , asAllison Meier notes for Hyperallergic . Many languished in storage , admit 500 that Cornell University purchase in 1885 . After being rescued from reposition in the sixties , the Cornell models were fastidiously touch on , a outgrowth that took decades . Now , about 70 of them , alongside intricate preparatory drawing and original tool , are on display at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning , New York .
The models inFragile Legacy : The Marine Invertebrate Glass Models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschkaserve multiple purposes : they are objects of beauty , testament to incredible craftsmanship , and a time capsule of marine variety now in riskiness . On the latter note , the display also includes a documentary by filmmaker David Owen Brown ( narrate by Ted Danson ) that distinguish the story of the models and ties them to the pressing need for sea preservation . It ’s also an splendid opportunity to gaze at some of the rippling , translucent , radiate beast that first enchanted Leopold Blaschka . you could watch a trailer for the film below ; the showing at the Corning Museum of Glass is on horizon until January 8 , 2017 .
Fragile LegacyfromDavid O. BrownonVimeo .
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