The Brilliance of Tiffany

Detail of the Dragonfyl Hanging Lampshade.
Tiffany Studios, New York, 1900 to 1905.
The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass,
Long Island City, New York.

"The Brilliance of Tiffany:  Lamps from the Neustadt Collection" is an illuminating exhibition now on view at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art through January 13, 2013.  Thirty five lamps on loan from the Neustadt Collection, Long Island City, New York, form the core of the exhibit, amply supplemented by Tiffany silver and Favrile glass from both the Brooks permanent collection and items on loan from local private collections.  It is all expertly organized by the Brooks Curator of European and Decorative Art, Stanton Thomas.

Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Image:  Neustadt Collection.

Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1848 to 1933, son of Charles Lewis Tiffany who was the founder of the luxury retailer Tiffany & Company, started as a landscape painter, eventually branching out into interior design and the decorative arts, becoming one of the foremost artists of his time.  In 1869, Tiffany established a studio in the new headquarters of the New York City chapter of the Young Men's Christian Association, the YMCA Building by Renwick and Sands.  But it was Tiffany's design for his own residence at the Bella Apartments that caused a sensation when completed in 1878.  Read about "the fly-eye of New York" as O. Henry called it, in two articles from the early 1880s posted in the Half Pudding Half Sauce blog here.  In 1880, Tiffany established the interior design firm Louis C. Tiffany, Associated Artists with partners Lockwood DeForest (furniture and woodwork specialist), Candace Wheeler (textile and embroidery specialist, often credited as the Mother of American Interior Design) and Samuel Colman (a former Hudson River School artist who became one of the country's first professional interior designers). 


Tiffany Studios, New York City.
Image:  Macklowe Gallery.

In 1883, Tiffany left Louis C. Tiffany, Associated Artists to form his own glassmaking firm, first known as Tiffany Glass and later, Tiffany Studios.  When his father's magnificent Romanesque Revival house commissioned from architects McKim, Mead & White was completed in 1885 on the northeast corner of East 72nd Street and Madison Avenue, New York City, L.C. Tiffany and his family occupied the top two floors.


The Charles Lewis Tiffany residence,
East 72nd Street and Madison Avenue.
Image:  Macklowe Gallery.

Although he continued to collaborate on interior design projects, Tiffany built large workshops and furnaces in Corona, Queens, New York in 1893 and registered "Favrile" as the trademark for his iridescent glass that same year.  Tiffany had become interested in the artistic effects of elecric lights, especially after his collaboration with Thomas Edison for the Lyceum Theater, the first theater to  have electric lights.  The growing availability of electricity provided the impetus for producing commercial lamps in 1895, although the early ones were kerosene and then with the option of either kerosene or electricity.  In 1900, Associated Artists was reorganized as Tiffany Studios.

Laurelton Hall, Laurel Hollow, Long Island.
Image: David Aronow, circa 1924 view, 
Historic American Building Survey.

Louis Comfort Tiffany became the Artistic Director of Tiffany & Company in 1902, following his father's death.  Art jewelry, copper enamels and pottery designed by Tiffany wered added to the retail offerings.  Tiffany's grand estate, Laurelton Hall, was completed in 1905 in Laurel Hollow, Long Island;  it was destroyed by fire in 1957 with its mosaic-decorated loggia installed in the Englehard Court of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1970s.  (Devoted Readers will recall reading about benefactors Jane and Charles Englehard and their estate Cragwood here).  Louis Comfort Tiffany died in 1933 at the age of 85.

Dragonfly Hanging Lamp.
Tiffany Studios, New York.
The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass,
Long Island City, New York.

Despite the many facets of his career, Louis Comfort Tiffany is best remembered for his colored glass lampshades.  These lampshades were influenced by his experience in painting nature, and his exposure to Art Nouveau with his several exhibitions in Paris in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  The Dragonfly Hanging Lamp, 1900 to 1905, exemplifies these influences.


Pond Lily Library Lamp.
Tiffany Studios, New York.
The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass,
Long Island City, New York.

There were several variations on the Pond Lily shade shapes with a library lamp shown here.  The large, hardy, white water lily, Nymphaea odorata, is depicted on the table lamp.  A globe lamp, probably for a newel post lamp, features Nelumbo nucifera, or sacred lotus.


The Pond Lily globe.
Photo by permission of the curator,
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
Image:  John J. Tackett for The Devoted Classicist.

The lampshades were assembled on a wooden mold with different molds for the various shades offered.  Brass patterns provided guides for cutting glass, with many colors and effects created in the studio's own furnaces.  Each piece was wrapped in a thin strip of copper foil and placed on the mold, and then the edges were soldered together.


Using the wood mold to fabricate a Tiffany Shade.
Photo with permission of the curator,
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
Image:  John J. Tackett for The Devoted Classicist.

Lindsy Parrott, Director & Curator of the Neustadt Collection, will give two talks in Memphis in conjunction with the exhibit.  On Saturday, November 17, 2012, Ms Parrott will talk at 3:00 pm about the seven Tiffany windows at Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal Church in a Decorative Arts Trust event open free to the public;  this lecture will be given at the church located on Peabody Avenue at Belvedere Boulevard.  On Sunday, November 18, 2012, Ms Parrott will talk at 2:00 pm at Memphis Brooks Museum about the artistry and historical context of the lamps in the exhibit;  this second event is free with museum admission.