2402 Bowl

Fostoria Glass Company, built in 1887 in Fostoria, Ohio, moved to Wheeling, West Virginia in 1892, but it was not until 1924 that it became the modern purveyor of moderately priced tablewares. That year, 1924 Fostoria introduced color to its wares in an attempt to steer away from imitating old-fashioned wares and launched an advertising campaign unprecedented in the glassware industry. George Sakier, a leading American designer, began designing for Fostoria in 1929, helping to raise its image as a modern manufacturer. He designed most of the company’s Art Deco pieces, like this geometric bowl, available in six colors and three sizes and a matching candleholder. Sakier was interested in trigonometry and perspective, publishing manuals on the subjects and exploring them in his designs, as can be seen by this bowl’s triangular forms and play of dimensionality. This type of simple and accessible modern design encouraged other glass manufacturers to experiment with modern-style wares marketed to the middle class. Sakier continued to send drawings to the glassmaking firm for more than fifty years, even after moving to Paris in the mid-twentieth centry, and was undoubtedly its major design consultant until it closed its doors in 1986.

2402 Bowl; Manufactured by Fostoria Glass Company (United States); USA; molded glass; H x W x D: 8.1 x 26.8 x 26.8 cm (3 3/16 x 10 9/16 x 10 9/16 in.); Gift of Daniel Morris and Denis Gallion; 1993-134-12