The American painter and designer, Louis Comfort Tiffany strode like a colossus in the gilded age of art décor. Throughout his long and productive career, Tiffany was driven by a singular quest for beauty in diverse art forms. “I’ve always striven for fix beauty in wood or stone or glass or pottery, in oil or water color, by using whatever seemed fittest for the expression of beauty. That has been my creed, and I see no reason to change it”, Tiffany said to guests at a celebration of his 68th birthday in 1916. His expansive oeuvre included paintings, photography, interior decoration, glass work, mosaics, enamels, ceramics, and jewelry.
Of all his artistic endeavors, glass making brought him the greatest fame. For centuries, the look of stained glass remained basically unchanged, based on techniques that date to medieval times. Through experimentation, Tiffany and his rival, John La Farge found a new way of producing glass called Favrile where the color is not just on the surface but is part of the glass. Favrile revolutionized the art of glass making; henceforth, craftsmen have a way to infuse glass works with variegated shades of iridescent hues, that has the effect of light through a rainbow. Tiffany patented this process in 1894 and produced Favrile glass for manufacture two years later. In 1900, he won the grand prize at the Paris Exposition for this innovation, which, for the first time since the Middle Ages, allowed artists to “paint” with glass.
Selected Glass Works of Louis Comfort Tiffany
Tiffany experimented with ceramics shortly after visiting the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900 where he saw examples of avant-garde French ceramics. This bowl is one of two which he sent to the Salon of the Société des Artistes Francais in Paris in 1905. Like most of his glass work, the design of his ceramics is heavily inspired by nature, as is evident from this bowl in which leafy Virginia creeper vine seems to grow up the sides and over the lid. The glaze on the bowl is one of Tiffany’s earliest. It darkens when it pools in the interstices of the design, accentuating the sculptural relief.
This hair ornament is one of Tiffany’s most unique pieces. It depicts two dragonflies perched on dandelion seed balls. The plants are not at the height of full bloom but in a natural fading state, just before the seeds are blown away. The back of the insects are in shimmering black opals which contrast beautifully with their gossamer-like filigree wings. The piece was originally owned by one of Tiffany’s most ardent patrons, Louisine Havemeyer.
Further Reading
Timeless Beauty: The Art of Louis Comfort Tiffany, The Charles Morse Museum of American Art, Schiffer Publishing, PA, 2016.