Louis Comfort Tiffany at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART BULLETIN | VOLUME 56 | NUMBER 1

Louis Comfort Tiffany at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney
1999
8.75 x 11 in
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Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933) was one of America's preeminent masters of the decorative arts. Although he is best known for his prodigious achievements in glass, especially for his vibrantly colored windows and lamps, Tiffany excelled in a wide range of media—mosaics, enamels, metalwork, ceramics, and jewelry—all handsomely represented in this publication by pieces from the Metropolitan Museum's outstanding collection of Tiffany works.

Son of the founder of the famed Tiffany and Company on Fifth Avenue in New York City, Louis Comfort Tiffany began his career as a painter shortly after the Civil War. Turning to interior design, he rode the crest of the burgeoning economy in the aftermath of the war, decorating homes of some of the leading figures of the day—the H. O. Havemeyers, Hamilton Fish, and Mark Twain—and undertaking such public commissions as Chester Arthur's White House and the Veterans' Room of the Seventh Regiment Armory in New York City. In the 1870s he began to experiment with new forms of glassmaking, and by the 1880s the Tiffany Glass Company was the largest producer of stained-glass windows in the nation.

In the next decade Tiffany established his own glass furnaces in Corona, Queens, New York, where he developed and perfected his Favrile ware, widely celebrated for its astonishing variety of shapes, colors, and textures and for its rainbow iridescence. New techniques were introduced continuously as Tiffany drew upon his own inexhaustible creativity, perfectionism, and unconventionalism to produce works that are now treasured for their grace and originality.

In 1901 Tiffany acknowledged that "an important part of the work of the studios is the artistic treatment of artificial light." From the beginning of his career as a designer he had shown an interest in controlling natural and artificial light, and especially in the use of glass for diffusing it. During the 1880s he worked with Thomas Edison on the first theater to install electric lights. Tiffany's leaded-glass shades with floral motifs combined soft illumination with delicate artistry and are among the most prized of all Tiffany creations. His work in glass led to the development of beautiful iridescent mosaics, and he created shimmering golden surfaces for enamels. Tiffany was also an innovator in jewelry design, for which he preferred semi-precious stones, often in ingenious settings, to the more fashionable large gems favored by Tiffany and Company.

Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, curator of American decorative arts at the Metropolitan Museum, presents Tiffany's works in the context of his career, discusses his artistic themes and his devotion to nature, and sheds new light on his technical virtuosity. She has illustrated her text with many of Tiffany's watercolor presentation drawings selected from the more than 400 in the Museum's collections. Many of these drawings, made by Tiffany and his artists over a period of forty years, are reproduced here for the first time.

Snake Charmer at Tangier, Africa, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Oil on canvas, American
Louis C. Tiffany
1872
Woodland Interior, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Watercolor and gouache on tan paper, American
Louis C. Tiffany
1866 or 1868
Aesthetic room interior with window and fireplace, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Watercolor, metallic silver ink, pen and black ink, and graphite on wove paper, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Glass Company
ca. 1883–87
Design for a filigree spandrel, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Ink and watercolor over graphite on paper, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
ca. 1892
Armchair, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Oak, silk velvet, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Samuel Colman
ca. 1891–92
Armchair, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Prima vera, American ash (secondary wood); marquetry of various woods and brass; replacement upholstery, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
ca. 1891–93
Window, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Leaded glass, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
ca. 1892
Design for mosaic mantel facing in residence of Mrs. Louis G. Kaufman, Short Hills, NJ, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Studios
1911–15
Suggestion for mosaic mantel facing / Mr. G. E. Hardy, Englewood, New Jersey, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Watercolor on paper, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Studios
1903–15
Portiere, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on off-white wove paper mounted to a paper-faced board, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
ca. 1890–1902
Design for Lyceum Theatre, New York, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Watercolor, pen and gold-colored bronze metallic ink, brown and black India ink, and graphite on tan-colored wove paper, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Glass Company
ca. 1885
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Studios
ca. 1915
Suggestion for Fixtures and Ceiling Decoration for Hershey Community Theater, Hershey, Pennsylvania, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Watercolor, gouache, metallic inks, colored pencil, aluminum paint, and graphite on artist board, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Studios
ca. 1915
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1925–26
Design for Henry Field Memorial Gallery at the Art Institute of Chicago, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Watercolor, pen and silver- and copper-colored metallic inks, brown and black inks, and graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
ca. 1893–94
Chapel interior, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Watercolor on paper, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Studios
late 19th–early 20th century
Design for church interior with Noli Me Tangere window, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Watercolor, gouache, photograph, collage, pen and colored inks, graphite, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
ca. 1890–1900
Design for the altar wall from Saint John's Reformed Church, Allentown, Pennsylvania, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Watercolor and graphite, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Studios
ca. 1915
Design for chancel of Christ Church, Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, Jacob Holzer  American, born Switzerland, Watercolor, gum Arabic, gouache and graphite on tissue or tracing paper mounted on board, American
Jacob Holzer
Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
ca. 1899
Design for marble pulpit, Louis C. Tiffany  American, Watercolor, glazing media, pen and inks, including brown ink and bronze metallic ink, and graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
ca. 1895–1900
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———. 1998. Louis Comfort Tiffany: At the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York ; London: Harry N. Abrams.