Vtg Henry Summa Frosted Iridescent Swirl Glass Paperweight Art Signed Dated 1985. A beautiful blown glass paperweight sculpture by Henry Summa. Henry was an American, creative visual artist born in 1949 and died in 2008. This particular piece is from 1985. The outside of the piece is a frosted iridescent, ribbed red swirl with oil slick-like coloring. Several cut-away sections give a glimpse of the inner workings of the glass piece. The cut-away sections are clear and glossy. The visible inner workings are helix-like swirls of blue, amber, burnt orange, and white. The detail is intricate and visually stunning. There are two small air bubbles that I can see and are shown in the photos. There are two round felt pads on the bottom of the piece where it is signed and dated May 85 05-54. The piece is substantial weighing in at 3 lbs. This piece would make an excellent addition to a glass collection, curio cabinet, home, or office! Approximate dimensions: 7.25″ x 3.25″ x 3.75. Short biography for Henry Summa. Henry Summa was born in 1949 and was largely inspired by the 1960s. The 1960s were an explosive decade internationally, bearing witness to the proliferation of modernist philosophies and trends. It was the era of Kennedy and Kruschev, and the beginning of the Cold War, which would endure for most of the second half of the twentieth century, and was characterized most symbolically by the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The Iron Curtain divided Eastern and Western Europe, both ideologically and literally, and student political uprisings took place globally. Psychedelia, a vast increase in consumerism, and the associated trends of marketing and advertising further defined the era. Artistically, the decade began with the twin movements of Pop and Minimalism emerging at a similar time. On one hand, Pop espoused the visual culture of the mainstream and mass media, and of products and consumerism. Artwork by artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Tom Wesselmann and Claes Oldenberg was inspired by the popular culture of the fast developing Capitalism of the United States, taking things like advertising, comic books, and ideas surrounding celebrity culture as their main visual inspiration. A parallel movement developed on the West Coast in California – a strain that also related to language in art, and is viewed as the very first development of conceptual art. Minimalism developed a formal language with no external references, focused solely on line, color and geometric form as key components of both painting and sculpture. The key figures of Minimalism included Frank Stella, Donald Judd and Agnes Martin. Color Field painting, as practiced by Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Helen Frankenthaler, further explored some of the expressive ideas of Abstract Expressionism, but stripped away much of the rhetoric, instead approaching a more rule-based approach to surface and color that associated this practice with Minimalism. Pop Art was an influential offshoot of minimalism, a discipline that became renowned through the work of artists like Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley. Globally, many artistic movements resonated with the creative concerns of the previously mentioned movements, often with regional specialties and nuance. In Italy, Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni established Spatialism, and in Germany, the Zero group under the leadership of Gunter Uecker espoused similar ideas. The influential school of Existentialist Philosophy was an important source of creativity for artists, with artists like Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti achieving international prominence for their distinctive approaches to the human form and the anguish related to the human condition. Questions, comments, or concerns? Feel free to message me. If you’re purchasing this item(s) to eat or drink out of or serve food on, we recommend you wash your item(s) first. We want to keep offering amazing items on this platform to everyone though we need to protect ourselves as well. Thank you for looking!