Charles Kaziun Jr PANSY Paperweight
Charles Kaziun Jr PANSY Paperweight. 2-1/8 diameter & 1-1/4 tall. Signature gold foil "K" embedded on the underside. Charlie (he liked to be called that) was an extremely talented and determined individual. This is the kind of guy you want with you in a submarine thats sitting wedged in the Pacific Mariana Trench with the forward torpedo room flooding. When he saw a technical challenge he seemed to come alive with determination. Here was a rebel artist. Alone in his quest, functioning almost as the TV character MacGyver, with improvised instruments a Chase & Sanborn coffee can as a shop burner and flying blind as he strove to reopen the vault doors to the secrets of the ancients okay, were only talking about a century and a half. But just try and tell him something couldnt be done and watch the sparks fly as he proved you wrong. Seriously, the young artists insatiable imagination and energy allowed him to first re-engineer the content and quality of classic era paperweights before creating his own indelible mixture of designs and executions that today stand out for their beauty and are immediately identifiable. Try leaving your name lying around engraved in gold and see if people dont remember you! But the real reason Charlie Kaziun has retained his stature as an artist and pioneer is the quality and dedication that marked his career of almost six decadesbeginning in 1934 when he was a freshman in high school. Over his career in glass and especially early on, Charlie created vases, ashtrays, pitchers, buttons, salt dishes, pens, candelabra, and more, in addition to paperweights. It would take several more pages to describe how he bribed, cajoled and caressed the glass into the beautiful works he created so just look at the pictures this time around! Charlie gained momentum when he began closely observing the public demonstrations by the renowned Howell family of glassblowers who decided it was easier to hire the kid than to have him arrested for stalking and industrial espionage. By the late 1940s-early 1950s, a network of dealers had placed Kaziuns alongside their antique French and American pieces in their shops and galleries. In 1945 on a summer (working) sojourn to Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratoryand guys being guysCharlie wound up annoying his future wife, Louise, before he even met her.
Actually her mom rented Charlie her daughters bedroom while she was at her summer job, and the eighteen year old came home to find herself demoted to the nursery! Remember in life, you only have one chance to make a first impression!
They married a quick nine years later. His was a lonely path in many respects. One day Charlie received the biggest compliment a paperweight maker could ever wish for. In the 1940s he had been pretty much alone in the paperweight field, but by 1952-53, Baccarat and Saint Louis had both resumed the production of paperweights. Charlie had once said: With all due respect to the French, I dont think they have the patent on brains and if they had succeeded in reviving an art form of this sort over there, possibly it could be done over here.
In 1953, Charlie and Louise attended an antique show in New York City where Paul Jokelson was displaying Kaziun weights next to mostly antiques. Representatives from both Baccarat and Saint Louis were present and after examining Charlies efforts, they begged him on the spot to fly home with them to show the French where they were making all their mistakes!
YES, were talking about being PAID to come to PARIS! But our hero declined their offers and continued full speed with his own work and thats lucky for all our personal collections. In his later decades, after so many years filled with experimentation, hard work, exhibitions, success, and recognition various health issues began to physically impair Charlie, and he really focused his future efforts on training his son Charles in the art of glass. It must have been a proud day when he told his son that the younger Kaziuns miniature Christmas ornaments far surpassed any that he had ever made.
It was only after Charlies passing in 1992, however that his son Charles began making paperweights. Theres no better way to take our leave of this woefully inadequate description of a truly talented and groundbreaking artist whose work is in every serious collection, than to quote a fragment from the writings of Louise, who, seems at some point to have forgiven Charlie for her unseemly eviction from her own bedroom. When I hold one of his pieces and study it, whats inside seems to glow with life. Thats what is so fascinating to me about paperweights. The forms and the flowers in the glass are the closest thing to eternal life we can know.The item "Charles Kaziun Jr PANSY Paperweight" is in sale since Tuesday, May 7, 2019. This item is in the category "Pottery & Glass\Glass\Art Glass\Paperweights". The seller is "mjsmola" and is located in Austin, Texas.
This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, Ukraine, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Chile, Colombia, Costa rica, Panama, Trinidad and tobago, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brunei darussalam, Bolivia, Egypt, French guiana, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Cayman islands, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Macao, Martinique, Maldives, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Reunion, Uruguay, Philippines, Antigua and barbuda, Aruba, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Saint kitts and nevis, Saint lucia, Montserrat, Turks and caicos islands, Russian federation.- Brand: Kaziun Jr
- Color: Blue