The Glassblower

Mervyn Peake 1911 - 1968

Summary

The stylised, attenuated figure of a glass blower with a blowing iron and gather of white molten glass on it. He stands twisting the iron in both hands to shape the glass, with light from the unseen furnace and white-hot glass lighting his face. In the background to the left and right there are two more glassblowers. The figure to the left is forming a complicated shape by rolling the iron, whilst the figure on the right is blows down the rod to create a bubble of glass.

Display Label

The Glassblower 1944 Mervyn Peake 1911- 1968 Oil on canvas Peake is best known as author of Gormenghast. In Second World War he was commissioned by War Artists Advisory Committee to record the making of cathode ray tubes for radar. These were made at the specialist glass factory of Chance Brothers, Smethwick, Birmingham. Peake also wrote a poem called The Glassblowers inspired by the sights of the factory: There is a molten language that is glass Unborn, a poetry of barbarous birth; It sings in sand and roars in furnace-fire; The blowers breathe it voiceless, as they pass through brimstone halls and girdered aisles of ire.' Presented by H M Government War Artists Advisory Committee 1947.390