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Esther (Self Portrait)

Artist Edris Eckhardt (American, 1905-1998)

CultureAmerican

Dateca. 1965

MediumGold-glass panel (fused glass with enamel and incised gold leaf)

DimensionsGlass panel: 14 1/8 × 7 1/8 in. (35.9 × 18.1 cm)
Overall, Framed panel: 19 1/4 × 12 in. (48.9 × 30.5 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number2021.27

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an example of Eckhardt’s “gold glass” artwork. It is a thin, rectangular glass panel that is displayed in its original wooden frame and burgundy velvet matting (made by the artist’s sister). The rectangular glass panel is oriented vertically and is decorated with lines scratched into gold foil (sgraffito) and enlivened with colorful glass enamels (reds, blues). The gold foil and enamels have been sandwiched by colorless glass and fused into one solid panel. The image is figural, showing the head and arm of a woman who is holding an egg in her hand; the drawing style is abstract rather than realistic. The work is signed “Eckhardt” in the middle left background on the front of the glass panel. On the reverse side, there is old masking tape with the title “Esther” written in pencil and a price of $200, likely from the 1960s.
ProvenanceNew Bedford Museum of Glass, New Bedford, Massachusetts, deaccessioned Chrysler Museum of Art, 2021