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It is one of a series of large blown head-sculptures that Roubícek produced in the late 1970s. They are tall, austere, simple, abstract forms in which the chance aspects of working with hot glass on the blowpipe play an important role, giving each individual piece its own character and emotional value. In the case of this head, there is a strong melancholy and sadness that is typical of Roubícek's art of that period. It is a silenced figure, the face totally anonymous, scarred by the application of glass threads.
René Roubícek was one of the leading glass-artists working in Czechoslovakia under the Communist regime during the 1950s and 60s. This all changed when one of his works at the Osaka World Expo of 1970 was deemed much too critical of the communist regime and Roubícek was subsequently barred from any major or international exhibition. This initiated a darker and more reflective period in the maker's career, of which this head is a prime illustration.
Victoria and Albert Museum