Veiled Paperweight
Artist
Sylvia Vigiletti
(Canadian, 1933 - 2020)
CultureCanadian
Date1980
MediumBlown glass with silver veiling
Dimensions3 1/4 × 3 1/2 × 3 in. (8.3 × 8.9 × 7.6 cm)
SignedNear the bottom edge of each paperweight, the artist’s abbreviated signature is incised in script: “Syl Vigiletti 1978,” and “Syl Vigiletti 1980.”
Credit LineGift of Audrey Handler
Object number2021.20.2
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 119, Case 69
shape, both made of transparent glass with internal “veils” of translucent color. One of the objects is slightly greyer in appearance, with inner swirls in two shades of translucent brownish glass; the other object is slightly more colorless in appearance, with inner swirls in two shades translucent amber glass. Each paperweight has a small hole in one of its rounded surfaces, which leads to a large internal air bubble that was pushed into the glass while it was hot using a tool. Near the bottom edge of each paperweight, the artist’s abbreviated signature is incised in script: “Syl Vigiletti 1978,” and “Syl Vigiletti 1980.” The base of both objects is ground flat.
ProvenanceThe subject of Sylvia Vigiletti and her work first came up in November 2020, when the Curator of Glass was corresponding with artist Audrey Handler about the purchase of Handler’s artwork Pairs for the collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art (2020.29). Handler was a very close friend of Vigiletti—who had recently passed away—and she wanted to make a gift of Vigiletti’s silver veiled glass paperweights to the Chrysler. Handler obtained a second paperweight from Vigiletti’s husband Bob for the purpose of a gift to the museum from the Vigilettti family, and she facilitated sending both paperweights to the Chrysler for review. These two paperweights have excellent provenance, the first having been kept by the artist and her family since it was made in 1978, and the second having been given to the artist’s close friend not long after it was made in 1980.Published ReferencesSelect publications including Vigiletti or her artworks: Women Working in Glass, by Lucartha Kohler, 2003, Schirffer Publishign Ltd., Atglen, PA, p. 52-53; Who's Who in Contemporary Glass Art, 1st ed., München, by Joachim Waldrich, 1993; The Art of the Paperweight: Challenging Tradition by Lawrence H. Selman, Paperweight Press, 1993. New Glass 1979: a Worldwide Survey, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY, p. 233.
