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Tiffany Lamps: Articles of Utility, Objects of Art
Tiffany Lamps: Articles of Utility, Objects of Art celebrates Louis Comfort Tiffany’s (1848-1933) revolutionary contributions to modern decorative lighting. Organized by The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass in New York City, this exhibition presents the first in-depth look at the Tiffany Studios’ deliberate efforts to produce lamps that balance artistry with utility and profitability. Some forty stunning objects in an array of colors, sizes and decorative styles are featured in five sections exploring the themes of fabrication, design inspiration, changing lighting technologies, and pricing and affordability. The show also includes tools, materials and period photographs to enhance the viewer’s appreciation of the objects by demonstrating how they were made.
Tiffany’s lamps are an innovative and successful combination of usefulness and beauty. As articles of utility, reading lamps, floor lamps, and hanging shades came in a wide variety of sizes and shapes to regulate and direct light. As objects of art, the lamps, with their interplay of colored glass and richly sculpted bronze, brought beauty into the home. Whether understated, minimal accents of color or showy, elaborate design statements, Tiffany lamps complimented a diversity of decorative schemes. This exhibition goes beyond the general appreciation of the beauty of Tiffany lamps by examining the artistry and social context of these iconic objects. An author at the turn of the century noted that Tiffany was motivated by “a desire not merely to add to the world’s beauty, but to bring beauty within reach of the public.” This exhibition demonstrates that, by creating lamps as objects of both utility and art, Louis Comfort Tiffany realized this goal.
To request a prospectus and exhibition checklist, please contact Lindsy Parrott, director/curator by email.
Venues:
Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, NY
September 21, 2008 – January 4, 2009
Flint Institute of Art, Flint, MI
May 22 – August 22, 2010
Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA
October 9, 2010 – January 23, 2011
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
March 20 – June 5, 2011
Biltmore, Asheville, NC
July 1– January 31, 2012
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN
October 12, 2012 - January 13, 2013
Read the exhibit review in the New York Times.
Hear Public Radio WRTI's "Creatively Speaking" broadcast about the show.
Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light
As a painter, Louis C. Tiffany was captivated by the interplay of light and color, and this fascination found its most spectacular expression in his glass “paintings.” Through the medium of opalescent glass, Tiffany could actually capture light in color and manipulate it to achieve impressionistic effects. Using new and innovative techniques and materials, Tiffany Studios created leaded-glass windows and lampshades in vibrant colors and richly varied patterns, textures, and opacities.
Organized by The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass in New York City, Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light is comprised of three windows, sixteen lamps, and seventy-five pieces of opalescent flat glass and pressed-glass “jewels” that illustrate the rich expanse of color and light available to the artists at the Tiffany Studios. The objects on display are some of the most iconic and celebrated of Tiffany’s works. Chosen for their masterful rendering of nature in flowers or landscape scenes and for the subtle use of light and shading in decorative geometric patterns, they exemplify the rich and varied glass palette, sensitive color selection, and intricacy of design that was characteristic of Tiffany’s leaded-glass objects. In addition to exploring materials and their effects, the exhibition also discusses the contributions of two of Tiffany’s leading designers, Clara Driscoll and Agnes Northrop.
Dr. Egon Neustadt, the founder of The Neustadt Collection, began acquiring Tiffany lamps in 1935, when the excess of the Gilded Age was still out of fashion, and went on to amass an almost encyclopedic collection. Perhaps his most significant acquisition came in 1967 when he purchased the flat and pressed glass leftover from the closing of the Tiffany Studios in the late 1930s. This collection contains some 275,000 pieces of glass and is the only holding of its kind. With both materials and objects, The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass is uniquely positioned to fully explore Louis C. Tiffany’s legacy of painting with color and glass.
For additional information and an exhibition checklist, please contact Lindsy Parrott, director/curator by email.
Venues:
The Hyde Collection, Glen Falls, NY
June 15 – September 16, 2012
