Lucartha Kohler (PA/NC, 1938-2017), Centerpiece Bowl with (40) Glass Fruits

20th century, a glass bowl mounted to sand-cast pedestal (8 1/2 x 15 1/8 in. diameter) and (40) life-size sand-cast glass forms including (2) avocados (4 x 3 x 3 in.), (1) banana (7 x 1. 5 x 2 in.), (10) pears (largest 3 3/4 x 3 x 3 in.), (4) apples (3 x 3 x 3 in.), (3) figs (2 x 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 in.), (2) strawberries ( 2 x 2 x 1 1/2 in.), (1) mandarin (2 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.), (2) limes (2 1/2 x 2 x 2 in.), (5) lemons (3 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.), (4) prickly pears (3 3/4 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.), (2) cucumbers (longest 8 1/2 x 2 x 2 in.), and (3) forms resembling pinecones (2 1/2 x 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 in.), unsigned.

Private Collection, Raleigh, North Carolina

Estate of Lucartha Kohler, Philadelphia, PA, and Durham, NC, 2018.

Lucartha Kohler’s work was shown for more than 40 years at a variety of gallery and public collections, including the Durham Storefront Project, Frank Gallery, and the Lawrence Gallery. Kohler studied at Carnegie Mellon Institute, Moore College of Art, and Penland School of Crafts. Kohler taught and lectured at the The Glass Furnace in Instanbul, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and The Studio. Her awards include the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Fellowships in the Arts, the Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts, and the Leeway Foundation Window of Opportunity Grant.

Bowl pedestal with nicks and small smoothed chips to corners; some abrasions and a few nicks to fruits; one pear with broken and missing stem.