Jaroslav Svoboda (b. 1938) Czech, (2) Art Glass Vases. Blue one with floral patterns in the glass. Red one signed on base. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Size: 8 1/4 x 8 1/4 x 12 in. 

#3528 . 

Jaroslav Svoboda was born in 1938 in Sokoleč in Central Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic). His family were glass grinders, and he was visiting the Inwald Glass Factory in nearby Poděbrady at a young age. By the age of fifteen he was studying under Břetislav Novák at the Glass Industry School in Železné Brod, focused on becoming a glassmaker. He graduated in 1957, and pursued further education at Charles University in Prague from 1966 to 1970, studying history. During this time he worked in the Glass Grinding Studio of the Prague Center for Arts and Crafts, becoming head of the studio before he even completed his studies. In 1969 he was offered the position of director at the Škrdlovice Glassworks, turning it into one of the most important hubs for innovation in the art glass field. His glass symposiums contributed greatly to this, hosting international exhibitions for artists nine times over the next eighteen years. In 1987 he became the head of the glass studio at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague, but clashed with students over his support for the Communists and participation in the People’s Assembly, eventually leaving after the Velvet Revolution. In 1990 he founded his own glass factory in the city of Karlov named Karlovy Vary, slowly building it from scratch into a successful venture based on his connections from the symposiums. His company was a big part of the late 1990s boom in Czech glass, and led to the Vysočina Glass Symposium in 2012. Due to growing economic and social disorder in Eastern Europe in the 21st Century, production at the workshop has diminished drastically, although Svoboda continues to produce with two other glassmakers and two grinders in a small one-pot furnace, and the main hall of the factory houses a gallery and shop dedicated to over half a century of glassworks.

Commensurate with age.