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52-653: Created by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka from 1887 through 1936 at their studio in Hosterwitz , near Dresden, Germany , the collection was commissioned by George Lincoln Goodale , the first director of Harvard's Botanical Museum , and was financed by Mary Lee Ware and her mother Elizabeth C. Ware . It includes 847 life-size models (representing 780 species and varieties of plants in 164 families) and some 3,000 detail models such as of plant parts and anatomical sections. The collection comprises approximately 4,400 individual glass models representing over 830 plant species. Among

104-765: A Bachelor of Arts from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa , and received his Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont . Doty's first collection of poems, Turtle, Swan , was published by David R. Godine in 1987; a second collection, Bethlehem in Broad Daylight , appeared from the same publisher in 1991. Booklist described his verse as "quiet, intimate" and praised its original style in turning powerful young urban experience into "an example of how we live, how we suffer and transcend suffering". Doty's "Tiara"

156-468: A book of descents: into the earth beneath the garden, into the dark substrata of a life. He has also written essays on still life painting, objects and intimacy, and a handbook for writers. His volumes of poetry include Sweet Machine (HarperCollins, 1998), Source , (HarperCollins, 2002), School of the Arts (HarperCollins, 2005) and Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems (HarperCollins, 2008), which received

208-570: A book-length essay about 17th-century Dutch painting and our relationships to objects, and The Art of Description ( Graywolf Books , 2010), a collection of four essays in which "Doty considers the task of saying what you see, and the challenges of rendering experience through language." He served as guest editor for The Best American Poetry 2012 ( Scribners , 2012). Doty has taught at the University of Iowa, Princeton University, Sarah Lawrence College , Columbia University, Cornell and NYU. He

260-518: A bright shining sunlike figure. On his return to Dresden , Leopold focused on producing glass eyes, costume ornaments, lab equipment, and other goods and specialty items whose production was expected of master lampworkers . He married his second wife, Caroline Riegel, in 1854. In his free time, he created glass models of plants. These would eventually become the basis of the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants , also known as

312-729: A collection of 51 Blaschka glass marine invertebrates. Leopold and Rudolf and their spouses are buried together in the Hosterwitz cemetery in Dresden . Mark Doty Mark Doty (born August 10, 1953) is an American poet and memoirist best known for his work My Alexandria. He was the winner of the National Book Award for Poetry in 2008. Mark Doty was born in Maryville, Tennessee , to Lawrence and Ruth Doty, with an older sister, Sarah Alice Doty. He earned

364-558: A few models of plants before beginning the preparation of the animal models to which he owes his wide celebrity; but these models of plants were, he thought, not appreciated by the persons for whom he had made them. The first set of models passed through various vicissitudes, and finally found a home in the Natural History Museum in Liège , where they were at last destroyed by fire. The artist did not have courage to undertake

416-438: A glass modeler of skill, I have often said to people, is to get a good great-grandfather who loved glass." The Blaschkas' primary technique was lampworking , in which glass is melted over a flame fed by air from a foot-powered bellows, then shaped using tools to pinch, pull or cut; forms were blown as well. Their old-fashioned Bohemian lamp-working table is part of the museum exhibit. Over the years Rudolf brought more and more of

468-608: A large part of the glass and all the enamels, which he uses powders to use as paint." In addition to funding and visiting the project, Mary took an active role in its progress, going so far as to personally unpack each model and make arrangements for Rudolph's fieldwork in the U.S. and Jamaica . Ames was less passionate about the Glass Flowers than his predecessor had been. However, he soon requested what he referred to as "Economic Botany", asking Rudolf to make glass models of olives and grapes. This eventually evolved into

520-593: A mixture of clear and colored glass, sometimes supported with wire, to produce their models. Many pieces were painted by Rudolf. In order to represent plants which were not native to the Dresden area, father and son studied foreign plant collections at Pillnitz Palace and the Dresden Botanical Garden. They also grew some from seeds sent from the United States. In 1892, Rudolf was sent on

572-642: A poem, "Silence", My father used to say, "Superior people never make long visits, have to be shown Longfellow's grave, or the glass flowers at Harvard." Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka Leopold Blaschka (27 May 1822 – 3 July 1895) and his son Rudolf Blaschka (17 June 1857 – 1 May 1939) were glass artists from Dresden , Germany . They were known for their production of biological and botanical models, including glass sea creatures and Harvard University 's Glass Flowers . The Blaschka family's roots trace to Josephthal in Erzgebirge , Bohemia ,

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624-511: A region known for processing glass, metals , and gems. Members of the Blaschka family worked in Venice , Bohemia , and Germany. Leopold referred to this history in an 1889 letter to Mary Lee Ware : Many people think that we have some secret apparatus by which we can squeeze glass suddenly into these forms, but it is not so. We have the touch. My son Rudolf has more than I have because he

676-437: A sealed jar, usually filled with alcohol. This killed the specimen and frequently decomposed the specimens beyond recognition. Initially, the designs for these were based on drawings in books, but Leopold was soon able to use his earlier drawings to produce models of other species. His reputation spread quickly. Demand for the models pushed Leopold to further the training of his son and apprentice, Rudolf Blaschka. A year after

728-726: A series of glass fruit models in both rotting and edible condition. Ames continued to exchange letters with Mary Lee Ware discussing the project and commented on the quality and speed of production declining with Rudolf's age, expressing concern whether Blaschka could continue to produce models of satisfactory quality. Rudolf continued making models for Harvard until 1938. By then 80 years old, he announced his retirement. Neither he nor his father Leopold had taken on an apprentice and Rudolf left no successor, as he and his wife Frieda had no children. In total, Leopold and Rudolf made approximately 4,400 models for Harvard, 780 of which showed species at life-size. As of 2016, fewer than 75 per cent of

780-424: A technique which he termed "glass-spinning" which permitted the construction of highly precise and detailed works in glass. He soon began to focus the business on manufacturing glass eyes. In 1846, Leopold married Caroline Zimmermann, and within four years their son Josef Augustin Blaschka was born. Caroline and Josef both died of cholera in 1850. A year later, Leopold's father died. Leopold "sought consolation in

832-498: A trip to the Caribbean and the U.S. to study additional plants, making extensive drawings and notes. At this point, the number of glass models sent annually to Harvard was approximately 120. Leopold died in 1895 while Rudolf was on a second trip to the U.S. Rudolf continued to work alone, but production slowed. By the early twentieth century, he found that he was unable to buy high quality glass and began making his own. This

884-410: Is formally dedicated to Dr. Charles Eliot Ware , the deceased father and husband of Mary and Elizabeth Ware, respectively. The models are glass with wire supports (internal or external), glue, a variety of organic media, and paint or enamel coloring. The Boston Globe has called them "anatomically perfect and, given all the glass-workers who've tried and failed, unreproducible." It is often said that

936-473: Is my son and the touch increases in every generation. The only way to become a glass modeler of skill, I have often said to people, is to get a good great-grandfather who loved glass; then he is to have a son with like tastes; he is to be your grandfather. He in turn will have a son who must, as your father, be passionately fond of glass. You, as his son, can then try your hand, and it is your own fault if you do not succeed. But, if you do not have such ancestors, it

988-666: Is not your fault. Leopold was born in Český Dub , Bohemia , one of the three sons of Joseph Blaschke. Leopold himself would later Latinize the family name to Blaschka. He and his son were native to the Bohemian Czech-German borderland. Leopold was apprenticed to a goldsmith and gem cutter in Turnov , a town in the Liberec Region of today's Czech Republic. He then joined the family business which produced glass ornaments and glass eyes . Leopold developed

1040-741: The Glass Flowers , which were collected many years later. During this period, Blaschka did not make any money producing the models. Eventually, however, the models attracted the attention of Prince Camille de Rohan , who arranged to meet with Leopold at Sychrov Castle in 1857. Prince Camille, an enthusiast of natural sciences, commissioned Leopold to craft 100 glass orchids for his private collection. In 1862, "the prince exhibited about 100 models of orchids and other exotic plants, which he displayed on two artificial tree trunks in his palace in Prague." This royal commission brought Blaschka's craft to

1092-852: The American South and in Arizona (HarperCollins, 1999). These first two memoirs received the American Library Associations Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award. His most recent memoir, Dog Years (HarperCollins, 2005), was a New York Times Bestseller and received the Barbara Gittings Literature Award from the American Library Association in 2008. Doty's essays include Still Life with Oysters and Lemon ( Beacon Press , 2001),

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1144-509: The Blaschka models surpasses all modern model making to date and the skill and art of the Blaschkas rests in peace for eternity." The Glass Flowers is one of the most noted tourist attractions of the Boston area. More than 210,000 visitors view the collection annually. In 1936, when Harvard invited the public to tour the campus in honor of its tercentenary, a New York Times reporter taking

1196-414: The Blaschkas and request a series of glass botanical models for Harvard. Some reports claim that Goodale saw a few glass orchids in the room where they met, surviving from the work two decades earlier. Although initially reluctant, Leopold eventually agreed to send test-models to the U.S. Despite being badly damaged by U.S. Customs , Goodale appreciated their craftsmanship and showed them widely. Goodale

1248-434: The Blaschkas employed secret techniques now lost; in fact their techniques were common at the time, but their skill, enthusiasm, and meticulous study and observation of their subjects in life were extraordinary, which Leopold ascribed to familial tradition, in a letter to Mary Lee Ware: "Many people think that we have some secret apparatus by which we can squeeze glass suddenly into these forms   ... The only way to become

1300-492: The National Book Award. Doty's three memoirs include Heaven's Coast , described as "searing" by The New York Times , is the excruciating journaling of his thoughts subsequent to hearing his lover's diagnosis with AIDS, a work "layered" with awarenesses like Dante's trip through hell (HarperCollins, 1996), and Firebird: A Memoir , an autobiography from six to sixteen, which tells the story of his childhood in

1352-525: The activity of the Blaschkas was "greatly increased by their exclusive devotion to a single line of work." Writing for the Annual reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College 1890-1891 : It has been only within a comparatively short time that I have discovered the cause of the great reluctance of the elder Blaschka to the undertaking at the outset. It appears upon inquiry that he had constructed

1404-406: The attention of Professor Ludwig Reichenbach , then director of the Natural History Museum in Dresden. Professor Reichenbach admired the botanical models and convinced Leopold to try creating glass models of marine invertebrates. In the nineteenth century, the dominant method of displaying preserved marine invertebrates was wet-preservation , which involved taking a live specimen and placing it in

1456-410: The darkness of the sea, which is as smooth as a mirror; there emerges all around in various places a flash like bundle of light beams, as if it is surrounded by thousands of sparks, that form true bundles of fire and of other bright lighting spots, and the seemingly mirrored stars. There emerges close before us a small spot in a sharp greenish light, which becomes ever larger and larger and finally becomes

1508-452: The entire production process under his personal control, eventually even manufacturing his own glass and colorants. Botanist Donald Schnell has called the models "enchanting", and relates his surprise at finding that the models faithfully depict an unpublished detail of a bee's behavior while pollinating a particular plant—a detail which he had privately hypothesized. Whitehouse and Small wrote that "the superiority in design and construction of

1560-539: The experiment again, when he was succeeding so well with his animal models. He regards it as a pleasant turn in his fortunes which permits him to devote all of his time to the subject of his earliest studies. Claims arose that Leopold and his son were using secret methods to make their glass models. These claims were refuted by Leopold himself. Blaschka stated "One cannot hurry glass. It will take its own time. If we try to hasten it beyond its limits, it resists and no longer obeys us. We have to humor it." The Blaschkas used

1612-542: The glass flowers?" At least two poems feature the flowers: Mark Doty (winner of the National Book Award for Poetry in 2008), "The Ware Collection of Glass Flowers and Fruit, Harvard Museum", in My Alexandria , 1993, He's built a perfection out of hunger, fused layer upon layer, swirled until what can't be tasted, won't yield, almost satisfies, an art mouthed to the shape of how soft things are, how good, before they disappear. Marianne Moore wrote in

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1664-637: The glass models, including the production of 131 Glass sea creature models for the Boston Society of Natural History Museum (now the Museum of Science ). These models, along with the ones purchased by Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology , were seen by Professor George Lincoln Goodale , who was in the process of establishing and building the Harvard Botanical Museum 's collection. In 1886, Goodale, traveled to Dresden to meet with

1716-438: The hostile climate of the United States. His third book of poetry, My Alexandria (University of Illinois Press, 1993), reflects the grief, perceptions and new awareness gained in the face of great and painful loss. In 1989, Doty's partner Wally Roberts tested positive for HIV . The collection, written while Roberts had not yet become ill, contemplates the prospect of mortality, desperately attempting to find some way of making

1768-416: The intact Blaschka models at Harvard, Professor Goodale decided to commission the glass flowers. To cover the expensive enterprise, Goodale approached former student Mary Lee Ware and her mother, Elizabeth C. Ware, already funders of Harvard's botany department. Mary convinced her mother to underwrite the consignment of the glass models, and in 1887, the Blaschkas contracted half of their time to producing

1820-654: The models are on regular display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in the Ware Collection. Older exhibitions contained up to 3,000 models, but this number was reduced during renovations of the museum's collections . Unlike the glass sea creatures which were "a profitable global mail-order business", the Glass Flowers were commissioned solely for Harvard. Over the course of their collective lives, Leopold and Rudolf crafted as many as ten thousand glass marine invertebrate models and 4,400 botanical models,

1872-471: The models directly to Harvard, where museum staff - possibly including Elizabeth Hodges Clark - could open them safely under the observation of Customs staff. Their models showcased a range of plant specimens. In total, up to 164 taxonomic families and a diversity of plant part morphologies , including flowers, leaves, fruits, and roots, were created. Some were shown during pollination by insects; others were diseased in various ways. Goodale noted that

1924-499: The models for Harvard with the remaining time dedicated to making marine invertebrate models. However, in 1890, the Blaschkas insisted that it was impossible for them to craft the botanical models for half the year and do the sea creatures during the other half, declaring that they “must give up either one or the other." To resolve this, the Blaschkas signed an exclusive ten-year contract with Harvard to make glass flowers for 8,800 marks per year. New arrangements were also made to send

1976-440: The models, 64 glass sculptures depict the effect of fungi , in particular plant diseases of Rosaceae by phytopathogens . Starting in 1863 the Blaschkas had a thriving business making glass models of marine invertebrates , selling them to museums and private collectors in a global enterprise (see Glass sea creatures ). At the time botanical specimens were pressed, carefully labeled, and put on display. The pressing lost

2028-649: The most famous being Harvard's Glass Flowers . The Blaschka studio survived the bombing of Dresden in World War II and, in 1993, the Corning Museum of Glass and Harvard Museum of Natural History jointly purchased the remaining Blaschka studio materials from Frieda Blaschka's niece, Gertrud Pones. The Pisa Charterhouse , which houses the Museum of Natural History of the University of Pisa , has

2080-479: The natural world, sketching the plants in the countryside around his home." In 1853, Leopold travelled to the United States. While on route, the ship was delayed at sea for two weeks due to a lack of trade winds . During this time, Leopold studied and sketched local marine invertebrates , the glass-like transparency of their bodies intriguing him. He wrote: It is a beautiful night in May. Hopefully, we look out over

2132-729: The poems collected in Atlantis (HarperCollins, 1995) when Roberts died in 1994. The book won the Bingham Poetry Prize and the Ambassador Book Award. Heaven's Coast: A Memoir (HarperCollins, 1996), is a meditative account of losing a loved one, and a study in grief. The book received the PEN Martha Albrand Award First Nonfiction. Doty is the author of nine books of poetry, most recently Deep Lane (W.W. Norton, 2015),

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2184-437: The project Goodale approached his former student Mary Lee Ware and her mother, Elizabeth C. Ware, who were already liberal benefactors of Harvard's botanical department. The original arrangement (in 1887) provided that the Blaschkas would work half time on the project, but in 1890 a new arrangement called for them to work full-time. The work continued until 1936, at which point Leopold and Elizabeth had both died. The collection

2236-659: The prospect of loss even momentarily bearable. My Alexandria was chosen for the National Poetry Series by Philip Levine , and won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize . When the book was published in the U.K . by Jonathan Cape, Doty became the first American poet to win the T. S. Eliot Prize , Britain's most significant annual award for poetry. Doty had begun

2288-531: The success of the glass sea anemones, the family moved to Dresden to give young Rudolf better educational opportunities. In 1886, Edouard Van Beneden , founder of the Institute of Zoology, ordered 77 Blaschka models in order to illustrate zoology lessons. Some of these models are still on display at Treasure in the Aquarium-Museum in Liège . By 1880, Rudolf was assisting his father in producing

2340-510: The three-dimensional aspect of the specimens, and the formerly living tissues lost their color. In 1886 the Blaschkas were approached by Professor Goodale, who after seeing their marine models, went to Dresden to ask them to make a series of glass botanical models for Harvard, which would be three-dimensional and with stable color. Leopold was hesitant but eventually agreed to make some sample models which, though badly damaged in customs, convinced Goodale of their value in botanical teaching. To fund

2392-417: The tour commented "Tercentenary or no, the chief focus of interest remains the famous glass flowers, the first of which was put on exhibition in 1893, and which with additions at intervals since, have never failed to draw exclamations of wonder or disbelief from visitors." Many visitors initially believe the Glass Flowers to be real, organic, plants and soon after entering or leaving exhibition inquire "Where are

2444-535: Was confirmed by Mary Lee Ware during her 1908 visit to Rudolf. In a letter she later wrote to the second director of the Botanical Museum, Professor Oakes Ames , she observed how "one change in the character of [Rudolf's] work and, consequently in the time necessary to accomplish results since I was last here, is very noteworthy. At that time […] he bought most of his glass and was just beginning to make some, and his finishes were in paint. Now he himself makes

2496-583: Was convinced that Blaschka's glass art was a worthy investment for Harvard, which was a global centre for the study of botany . At that time, botanical specimens were almost entirely showcased as dried, pressed and labeled specimens called "specimina exsiccata" (dried specimens), but this presented a number of problems. Pressed plant specimens were two-dimensional and tended to lose their color and form, making them difficult to use as accurate teaching tools. Dried specimens were also quite heavy and bulky, making their transport and storage expensive. Having already seen

2548-580: Was due to homophobia—society was, at the time, uncomfortable with gay sexuality. This poem criticizes the idea that gay men "invite[d] their own oppression as a consequence of pleasure." The poem's phrase "he asked for it" represents this common, unsympathetic opinion about gay men with AIDS. Imagery like "perfect stasis" and "body's paradise" is used by Doty to paint a future beyond brutality and discrimination for AIDS sufferers. According to Landau, Doty's poems were "humane and comforting narratives" that offered hope to people living with HIV and stood in contrast to

2600-919: Was on the faculty of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in August 2006. He is the inaugural judge of the White Crane/James White Poetry Prize for Excellence in Gay Men's Poetry. Doty was a judge for the 2013 Griffin Poetry Prize . In 2014, he was welcomed as a trustee of the Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry. In 2011, Doty was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets . From 1995 until 2010, his partner

2652-476: Was printed in 1990 in an anthology called Poets for Life: Seventy-Six Poets Respond to AIDS . This poem critiques the way society perceived and treated homosexual AIDS sufferers. The 1980s marked the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the United States. The Reagan administration's delayed action to fight AIDS resulted in thousands of deaths, especially among young gay men. Some believe the initial reluctance to mobilize

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2704-736: Was the John and Rebecca Moores Professor in the graduate program at The University of Houston Creative Writing Program for ten years, and is currently Distinguished Professor and Writer-in-Residence in the Department of English at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he directs Writers House. He has also participated in The Juniper Summer Writing Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst 's MFA Program for Poets & Writers , and

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