Jon Kuhn

Jon Kuhn makes glass that behaves like a jewel. His sculptures are built from thousands of small laminated and cut elements, assembled into a solid geometric block — usually a cube or a tapering column — with a dense, glittering core suspended at the centre. The clear outer glass is polished to an optical finish so the core appears to hang in mid-air, refracted into infinite repetitions.

If you own a Kuhn, send photographs through our free auction estimate form. Photograph it lit from more than one angle — these pieces are very hard to represent in a single image.

Who Was Jon Kuhn?

Kuhn was born in 1949 and has worked for decades in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He came to glass through craft training rather than through the hot shop culture that dominated the field in the 1970s, and his practice has always been closer to lapidary work or precision engineering than to blowing.

The process is extraordinarily laborious. Sheets of coloured and clear optical glass are laminated, sliced, re-laminated and cut again, building up assemblies of thousands of individual pieces, each of which has to align. The assembly is then encased in clear blocks and ground and polished through many stages to an optical surface. A single major sculpture can take months, and there is no forgiving stage in the process.

What Does Jon Kuhn Make?

The recurring formats are the cube, the pyramid and the vertical column, along with larger multi-part installations. Titles like Midnight Jewel give the flavour. The visual effect depends entirely on the precision: because the outer glass is optically flat and perfectly clear, the coloured core is reflected and re-reflected in the faces, so a small cluster at the centre reads as a deep field of light.

His work sits with the cold-glass sculptors — Toland Sand, Christopher Ries — rather than with the vessel makers, and it appeals to collectors who value technical precision. Pieces are signed and dated, normally on the base.

How Much Is My Jon Kuhn Sculpture Worth Worth?

Several things determine what a work by Jon Kuhn brings at auction:

• Scale — the difference between a small cube and a major exhibition block is very large in both labour and price
• Complexity of the core — the density and intricacy of the internal assembly is the whole work; a simple core and an elaborate one are different objects
• Date — his mature work is highly refined and collectors distinguish it from earlier pieces
• Condition — an optical polish is unforgiving; chips at the corners and scratches on the faces materially affect value
• Signature and base — signed and dated, and worth photographing closely

The honest answer is that no two are alike, and the difference between an ordinary example and an exceptional one is a conversation with a specialist, not a chart. Send us photographs through our free auction estimate form — front, back, signature, and any labels — and we will tell you what you have.

The Market for Kuhn

Kuhn has one of the more robust markets in American studio glass. His work has circulated through around thirty different salerooms nationally, and his recent median has been running above his longer-run average — a name that is holding and gently strengthening rather than drifting. His major pieces reach into five figures.

The practical problem with selling a Kuhn is photography. These sculptures are close to impossible to convey in a casual snapshot: the effect that makes them valuable only appears under proper lighting. Getting that right, and cataloguing the piece as sculpture rather than as an ornament, is a large part of what separates a good result from a poor one.

How to Sell a Work by Kuhn

The strongest results for a Jon Kuhn glass sculpture come at auction, where national and international collectors bid against each other. Revere Auctions offers free, no-obligation auction estimates: send photos and dimensions and our specialists respond with a current market valuation and a recommendation on how to sell. Consigned works are professionally photographed, cataloged, and marketed through our fine art auctions to a worldwide bidder base, and we regularly arrange shipping for consignors across the country. If you need a formal written valuation for insurance or estate purposes, our appraisal and valuation services team can help; you can also read more about how selling at auction works.

Related: studio art glass artists, our fine art department, appraisal services, free auction estimates.

Reviewed by the fine art specialists at Revere Auctions, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Jon Kuhn: Frequently Asked Questions

How much is a Jon Kuhn sculpture worth?

It depends on scale and on the complexity of the internal core. Major exhibition pieces reach five figures; smaller works sit well below. Revere Auctions provides free estimates from photographs.

How is a Jon Kuhn sculpture made?

By laminating, cutting and re-laminating sheets of optical and coloured glass into an assembly of thousands of elements, encasing it in clear glass, and grinding and polishing the block to an optical finish. A major work can take months.

Is Jon Kuhn glass blown?

No. It is entirely cold-worked, which places him alongside Toland Sand and Christopher Ries rather than with blown-vessel artists.

How should I photograph a Kuhn for an estimate?

From several angles, with light coming from more than one direction, plus a close photograph of the signature on the base. A single flat image will not show what the piece does.

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