Jean Claude Novaro (1943-2014), Ventru Thick Glass Vase, Signed, 20th

Thick pot-bellied glass vase with narrow neck with wide and thick cords in relief, polychrome interlayer decoration, signed and dated below. 20th century Jean-Claude Novaro is a master glassmaker born in Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes) on October 18, 1943 and died in Monaco on December 30, 2014. He invented the inclusion of gold, silver and bronze in glass as well than phosphorescent glass, after 20 years of research and with the help of his wife Virginie Novaro Pigasse. Biography The youngest of four children, he was born in the south of France and grew up in the village of Biot, Place des Arcades. At the age of 14, he lost his mother and left school "delighted to have learned nothing there3", to join the current Verrerie de Biot with its founder Éloi Monod. Apprenticed in 1957, Jean-Claude Novaro became a master glassmaker at the age of twenty, “head of the hall” and responsible for training from 1973 to 19774,5. During this period, he had a team of 40 glass artisans under his supervision[ref. necessary]. In 1977, he set up his own creative workshop in Biot with the help of his wife at the time, Michèle Luzoro. The same year, they gave birth to their daughter, Léa. They divorced in 1982. Jean-Claude Novaro then left to set up a workshop in Paris. In 1984, he permanently set up his workshop in Biot on the family land, in Vignasses. He collaborated with another artist from Biot, Jean-Paul Van Lith from 1979 to 19816. In 2011, he opened a workshop in the United Arab Emirates. Art He works with both marble and tools, in hot applications, in metallization by reduction and with additions of metals, metal oxides, gold leaf and various precious metals4. In 1991, he invented a glass which, with added powders, absorbs light and restores it in the dark9,10. Another of his techniques consists of including enamel powders in interlayers in the thickness of the glass in order to create reflections11. From 1963, the Art Deco influence pushed him to create bottles, lamps and vases. In 1998 he created a series of vases on the theme of daily life in Egypt and on the theme of football for the World Cup5. In 2002, he created a monumental work for Nice airport5,12. He is also included in the Guinness Book of Records for having created the largest glass work ever created by a master glassmaker...