Colorless glass; blown, cut and engraved decoration.

In Czechoslovakia, a concentrated effort was made to institute new glassmaking programs during the late 1940s and 1950s. These programs were associated with professional schools in Prague (the Academy of Applied Arts) and regional cities such as Zelezný Brod, Kamenický Senov, and Nový Bor. Czech glass was influential throughout Europe, and after 1945, Czech design was recognized for its originality. The postwar years were a creative time for Czech glassmakers, as they were for the Italians and Scandinavians. Technical schools, and their relationship with state-owned factories, afforded individual artist-designers the opportunity to use hot glass. Pavel Hlava (b. 1924) trained in Zelezný Brod and at the Academy of Applied Arts. For 20 years, he was chief designer at Crystalex, where he created some of the company’s most popular designs. Hlava’s work gradually developed from purely functional glassware designs to more abstract forms, such as this sculptural vase. The “single bloom” vases designed by Pavel Hlava and Adolf Matura were first displayed at the 11th Milan Triennial in 1957.