"Damaged Bone Series"

1990

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 302

Aschenbrenner, a studio glass artist and Vietnam War veteran who sustained a leg wound while on a mission during the Tet Offensive, transforms his war experience into a series of hauntingly twisted glass bones which were blown in his studio. Each pale mangled bone is held together by cloth bandages, wire and twigs, creating a nightmarish memory of the horrors of war.

Artwork Details

Title: "Damaged Bone Series"
Designer: Michael Aschenbrenner (American, born Pomona, California, 1949)
Date: 1990
Medium: Glass, fabric, wire, twigs
Dimensions: Oberall estimated: 64 × 62 × 4 in., 36.8 lb. (162.6 × 157.5 × 10.2 cm, 16.7 kg)
2003.39a: 28 1/2 × 6 × 6 in., 5 lb. (72.4 × 15.2 × 15.2 cm, 2.3 kg)
2003.39b: 28 1/2 × 2 3/4 × 3 1/4 in., 2.6 lb. (72.4 × 7 × 8.3 cm, 1179.352g)
2003.39c: 24 1/4 × 10 1/4 × 4 1/4 in., 2.6 lb. (61.6 × 26 × 10.8 cm, 1.2 kg)
2003.39d: 33 × 2 1/4 × 2 1/2 in., 2 lb. (83.8 × 5.7 × 6.4 cm, 907.194g)
2003.39e: 22 3/4 × 4 × 4 1/2 in., 3 lb. (57.8 × 10.2 × 11.4 cm, 1360.791g)
2003.39f: 25 1/2 × 3 1/2 × 8 in., 3.4 lb. (64.8 × 8.9 × 20.3 cm, 1542.23g)
2003.39g: 19 3/8 × 2 1/8 × 2 1/2 in., 1.6 lb. (49.2 × 5.4 × 6.4 cm, 0.7 kg)
2003.39h: 25 1/2 × 6 1/2 × 2 5/8 in., 3.4 lb. (64.8 × 16.5 × 6.7 cm, 1.5 kg)
2003.39i: 13 1/2 × 2 1/4 × 3 1/2 in., 1.4 lb. (34.3 × 5.7 × 8.9 cm, 635.036g)
2003.39j: 11 × 2 × 2 1/2 in., 0.6 lb. (27.9 × 5.1 × 6.4 cm, 272.158g)
2003.39k: 8 1/8 × 2 1/4 × 4 1/8 in., 4 lb. (20.6 × 5.7 × 10.5 cm, 1814.388g)
2003.39l: 21 × 4 × 2 7/8 in., 2.2 lb. (53.3 × 10.2 × 7.3 cm, 1 kg)
2003.39m: 12 1/2 × 2 × 2 1/2 in., 0.6 lb. (31.8 × 5.1 × 6.4 cm, 272.158g)
2003.39n: 17 × 4 7/8 × 2 1/2 in., 1.8 lb. (43.2 × 12.4 × 6.4 cm, 0.8 kg)
2003.39o: 22 1/2 × 3 1/2 × 4 in., 2.6 lb. (57.2 × 8.9 × 10.2 cm, 1179.352g)
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Gift of Arthur J. Williams, 2003
Object Number: 2003.39a-o
Rights and Reproduction: © Michael Aschenbrenner
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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