A Life Well Lived
Marvin Lipofsky (1938-2016) was an accomplished sculptor who had a deep and lasting impact on the art world. Lipofsky developed his technique and abstractionist style by drawing and expanding on the expertise of master artisans and glassblowers encountered during his frequent travels around the world. Influenced by sculptors Peter Voulkos and John Mason, Lipofsky originally worked in clay, but his introduction to the use of glass through studies in 1962 with Harvey Littleton at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, marked a significant change in his work. Lipofsky introduced glass as an art form in 1964 at the University of California, Berkeley, Department of Design, where he taught until 1972. In 1967, he founded and headed the glass department at the California College of Arts and Crafts and taught as a full professor until 1987.
As one of the early pioneers in using glass as a vehicle for personal artistic expression, he pushed the possibilities of the medium. Early in his development, he ventured to Europe to research and collaborate with European Glass Masters to gain insight from their long tradition. Since those early years, Lipofsky continued to travel the world for over 50 years to work in factories and to interact with other artists and designers.
Lipofsky’s use of vivid and saturated colors elucidates his forms. Influenced by painters of the 1950s and ‘60’s, the work of his glassblowing process is determined by what is available at the moment, while his arrangement of color and his combinations of different hues is conscious and precise, inspired by his surroundings: the environment, flowers, mountains, trees, forests, weather, and cultural conditions. Marvin Lipofsky’s sculpture is an expression of his world, which he permits us to explore through interplays of shape, form, and color. His sculptures are included in 125 museum collections throughout the world, with works created in 24 different countries.