Designing the Gilded Age: Drawings from the Studios of Louis C. Tiffany

Designing the Gilded Age features more than 150 design drawings from the studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany. This rarely seen preparatory material highlights the process of embellishing Gilded Age mansions, churches, synagogues, banks, emporia, museums, and theaters. While acknowledging Tiffany’s own artistry, this catalogue recognizes the contributions of other designers, including women and immigrants, who realized Tiffany’s vision in luminous watercolor drawings that were presented to potential patrons and used by his artisans. The commissions represented here span Tiffany’s career, from the mid-1880s through the 1920s, and range across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and Switzerland. Each work tells an individual story, of people and place, architectural history, social context, religion, iconography, and more.

Marking the culmination of decades of dedicated conservation and research, this study provides fresh attributions to specific designers and identifies important Gilded Age commissions. Now painstakingly restored to their full beauty, the drawings reveal new information about the studios’ innovative processes. Alongside stunning photography of the drawings are related images of exemplary windows, mosaics, and iconic leaded-glass lamps, which provide a unique opportunity to view the drawings and finished products side by side.