Q. I am looking for information regarding a Gemmail exhibition on May 1959

The 1959 "Les Gemmaux de France" (or "First American Exhibit of 'Gemmaux de France'") was a traveling exhibition that featured 20 pieces. One of the venues it was featured in was the Corning Glass Works building in New York City. The Corning Museum of Glass now owns eight of the pieces featured in that exhibit, including Mère et Enfant (Mother and Child) [^^93.3.1^^] and Le Torse Rose (Pink Torso) [^^93.3.10^^] by Picasso; Orphée aux Feuillages (Orpheus in Foliage) by Jean Cocteau [^^93.3.4^^]; Passé, Présent, Avenir (Past, Present, Future) by Jean Crotti [^^93.3.8^^]; Voiles Heureuses (Happy Sailing) by Danielle Dhumez [^^93.3.12^^]; Jeux d’Enfants (Children’s Games) by Dominique Dalozo [^^93.3.13^^]; and Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc) [^^93.3.11^^] and Pont de Grenelle (Grenelle Bridge) by Louis Gilis [^^93.3.9^^].

I was not able to find much published about that specific exhibition in our collection, but I did find two items that may be of interest. Les Gemmaux de France: story of the gemmaux, two "crazy men" (1959) mentions the upcoming exhibition and provides information on the pieces featured. Page 19 of the June 1959 issue of ARTNews (v.58) provides a brief summary and review of the show. You can also find out more information about the show, the pieces featured, and other gemmaux information in this article on our website and a previous Ask a Librarian question.

That same year, there was also a Corning Museum of Glass exhibition called "Glass 1959: A Special Exhibition of International Contemporary Glass" that featured some gemmaux pieces. More information about that exhibition is also in the above-mentioned sources.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find any photographs of the exhibition itself, although you can view the pieces in the CMoG collection on our website (www.cmog.org).