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Arts & Communication

ARTICLE
Glass in fine art: Contemporary approaches in

the 21 century in the Portuguese panorama
st

Teresa Almeida *
1,2
1 i2ADS Research Institute in Art, Design and Society, Faculty of Fine Art, Porto University, Porto,
Portugal
2 VICARTE, Research Unit “Glass and Ceramics for the Art”, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia,
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Monte da Caparica, Portugal

Abstract
Art glass is a pioneering form of art that is open to investigations and distinct
applications. The technological developments in science combined with novel esthetic
concepts allow new artistic interpretations of this material that can be transparent,
translucid, crystal, and opaque. Glass is an art material prevalent in Portugal territory,
which has been historically connected particularly with glassblowing and stained
glass. Many Portuguese artists are now integrating glass into the conception of their
art pieces. This article aims to present the panorama of Portuguese contemporary
glass and the importance of education programs that have emerged in the past
years contributing to the increase of artists working with glass as a fine art material.
Research conducted in universities, as well as numerous synergistic projects, also
represents key factors leading to the increased convergence between art, science,
and the production of original materials. This paper also presents works from young-
*Corresponding author: generation artists, projects, and events.
Teresa Almeida
(talmeida@fba.up.pt)
Citation: Almeida T. Glass in fine Keywords: Case studies; Art glass; Glass education; Art and science; Portuguese panorama
art: Contemporary approaches in
the 21 century in the Portuguese
st
panorama. Arts & Communication.
2024;2(3):2777.
doi: 10.36922/ac.2777 1. Introduction
Received: January 18, 2024 Portugal has a long history of glassblowing since the middle of the 15 century. The
th
1
Accepted: March 14, 2024 Marinha Grande region, situated in the center of the country, also known as “the land
of glass,” is the main area of production, and in the 20 century, artists and designers
th
Published Online: July 24, 2024
started to work with the glassblowers of the local factories. 2
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an Open-Access article It was also during this period that stained glass was being produced and one of the
distributed under the terms most important works is displayed in the Santa Maria de Vitória Monastery in Batalha
of the Creative Commons
AttributionNoncommercial License, (not far from Marinha Grande). It is important to note that appreciation of stained glass
th
permitting all non-commercial use, in Portugal did not happen until the 20 century when a significant development of
distribution, and reproduction in any making this art started to emerge, with the appearance of stained glass studios such as
medium, provided the original work
is properly cited. Ricardo Leone in 1904 in Lisbon and Vidraria Antunes in 1906 in Porto. Since then,
famous Portuguese artists have made countless works for religious and governmental
Publisher’s Note: AccScience 3
Publishing remains neutral with buildings and also for private residencies.
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Portugal has long been known for its ceramics, especially tiles, and artists have felt
affiliations. more comfortable working with this material. Since the introduction of glass in the

Volume 2 Issue 3 (2024) 1 doi: 10.36922/ac.2777