SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to The Jewish News

Glass

The DIA debuts
"The Aviva and
Jack A. Robinson
Collection"
in a spectacular
new gallery.

1111.111111111111111

Clockwise from top le . •
Marvin Lipofiky: "Series Crystalex Hantich, Novy Bor,
Czechoslovakia, #015," 1982, blown glass.

Mark Peiser: "Live Oaks and Spanish Moss," from the
Paperweight Vase series, 1978, blown glass.

Richard Ritter: "YC-7-1984," 1984, blown glass.

Steven Weinberg: "#481201," 1984, cast glass.

10/2
1998

, 84 Detroit Jewish News

window on the history of
studio glass soon opens at
the Detroit Institute of Arts
(DIA), where Aviva and
Jack Robinson have donated a collec-
tion of 78 works and an endowment
to refurbish the gallery that holds
them.
Besides offering pieces that repre-
sent diverse phases of the art glass
movement, the Robinsons had a say
in the space that will hold them in
rotation with other 20th century dec-
orative arts — fiber, wood, clay and
metal.
They wanted a setting with the
biggest window possible, somewhat
reminiscent of their home, where they
value the floor-to-ceiling panes help-
ing to illuminate a variety of artwork,
including glass, amassed as the couple
traveled the world.
"A Passion for Glass: The Aviva and
Jack A. Robinson Collection" runs
Oct. 11-Feb. 14. While the works of
art were donated in 1995, the refur-
bishing of the 2,400-square-foot
gallery has just been completed. It is
the first fully handicapped-accessible
gallery at the DIA.
"The Detroit Institute of Arts is a
treasure, and we could think of no
more appropriate home for our glass
treasures," says Aviva Robinson, a
watercolorist whose interest in tints
formed the basis for her interest in
collecting glass.
"The gallery has the biggest win-
dow in the museum, and we liked the
natural light, although we are provid-
ing additional lighting for the cases."
The showcased works, which dou-
ble the museum's holdings of contem-
porary glass, range from a nesting bas-
ket series by studio glass pioneer Dale
Chihuly to a landscape scene by Mark
Peiser.
The Robinsons, active with the
United Jewish Foundation,'have
donated some works by Jewish artists,
such as Steven Weinberg, Karl
Schantz, Joel Phillip Myers and Mar-
vin Lipofsky.
"We were both born and raised in
Detroit, and we have always lived and
earned our living here," says Jack
Robinson, founder of Perry Drug
Stores, the largest pharmacy chain in
Michigan when it was sold to the Rite
Aid Corp. in 1995. "We never consid-
ered any other institution."
Bonita Fike, associate curator of
20th century art, has been working

