Dino Martens

Dino Martens Geltrude Vase For Sale

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Dino Martens Geltrude Vase (1954)

Internally decorated polychrome patchwork glass with copper inclusions, pinwheel and filigrana.
11.5 x 7.5 inches
Provenance: Acquired circa 1955 by the original owner | Thence by descent
Literature: Dino Martens: Muranese Glass Designer, Heiremans, pg. 166 illustrates model
Price: On request

Back of Dino Martens vase

Close-up of Dino Martens vase

DINO MARTENS BIOGRAPHY

Dino Martens (1894 – 1970)

The glass of Dino Martens is some of the most recognizable Murano glass from 20th century Italian art. His innovative use of bright metallic colors using huge murrini (glass rods with colors or images in them) and fantastical shapes make Dino Martens one of the great creators of modern art.

Martens was born in Venice in 1894. He went on to study at the Accademia di Belle Art, where he developed his skills as a painter. He exhibited in Venice as a young man in the 1920’s. By the end of the decade was a designer for Salviati & Co, a leading glass maker. After fighting in the African War, he took up the position of artistic director at Aureliano Toso. They were a famous Venetian glass maker where Dino became a legend. There he experimented with creating astounding designs that pushed the boundaries of what was possible with glass.

Murano Glass

He was so influential that Dino Martens glass and Murano glass from the 1950’s are synonymous. His shocking and wild style does not belie the careful planning and preparation put into his work. Dino’s glass is very calculated. Yet, they contain a wildness he manages to capture in the bright patchworks and pigments that make up his creative vases and art glass. This was a man in control of his output. A man who possessed a poet’s soul, naming his works in a romantic fashion.

Dino Martens Glass for Aureliano Toso

A great example of Dino’s Murano glass is his Oriente series. A vase from this series encapsulates the energy and vibrancy of his work and life. He played with form and color, putting unusual colors close together and playing them off each other. All the while intriguing the eye with almost biological shapes.

Dino Martens glass is collectible and deserving of the position it holds in Murano glass history. A Dino Martens vase or or other art glass is a bit of history that marks the breaking away of glass into the world of expressive art. The artist kept producing into the late years of his life. It was during these later years that his art glass became more subtle and refined.