Louis Comfort Tiffany’s invention of Favrile glass
revolutionized decorative art and through it, he made beauty easily
obtainable. Responding to J. Alden Weir's toast, at the exhibition,
breakfast and masque, Mr. Tiffany made a statement in his address:
“Thirteenth Century stained glass makers were great because they
saw and reproduced beauty from the skies and stars; the gems and
rugs; they translated beauty into the speech of stained glass.” 1
Louis C. Tiffany had gained a reputation as New York’s most
fashionable decorators and it is said that he bridged the gap between
19th
Century eclecticism and modern art.2
From 1870 to 1880, there was high demand for decorative art once
America reached industrial and commercial expansion.
Having
decorative art enhanced the homes of the wealthy and they soon became
the tastemakers of the nation. The United States grew a strong
dependence on European inspired trends. However, it was brought to
attention during the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876 that
the United States “lacked fine art”. Soon after, wealthy
Americans began to purchase more American art, and it is said that it
was, “Attributed to the creative artists who were challenged by
home decoration as a serious and worthwhile discipline.” Thus the
Associated Artists emerged in 1879 and it was created by the
partnership of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), Samuel Colman
(1832-1920), Lockwood de Forest (1850-1932), and Candace Thurber
Wheeler (1828-1923).3
As
a cadet at Eagleswood Military Academy, Louis C. Tiffany connected
with painting instructors George Inness and James Steele MacKay.
MacKay assisted in securing individual commissions for Tiffany and
introduced him to Oscar Wilde. In his interaction with Wilde,
Tiffany became influenced by the British Aesthetic Movement, which
transformed decorative arts in America.4
His earliest and most recognizable achievement in decorative art was
the invention of Favrile glass. His technique of Favrile glass
surpasses Venetian and Bohemian glass. In The
Source of Beauty in Favrile Glass by
James Lee Harvey it states, “The Old World product is eclipsed by
this New World claimant of public favor.” 5
Favrile glass was a brilliant, iridescent colors Tiffany used to
design ornate mosaics, and illuminate the extraordinary colors of
glass through natural sunlight and Edison's invention of the light
bulb for his lamps. Favrile stems from the technique that a skilled
glassworker from England named Arthur Nash used to blend colors
together. Tiffany began using his furnace to develop this method to
blend the colors into a molten state with subtle shades of texture.
Tiffany and Arthur Nash later built a glasshouse in Corona, Queens,
New York and with his furnaces developed the method. Recalling the
Old English word fabrile (hand-wrought), Tiffany named the blown
glass from his furnaces Favrile. The use of Favrile glass provided
Tiffany with a signature style.
His
technique of Favrile glass art is significant in his piece,
“Landscape with a Greek Temple” [figure 1] because of the use of
blended colors. This glass art was designed for the Howell Hinds
House in 1898 and 1899. Unframed, the size of this stained glass
painting is 227.3 x 114.3 in centimeters. Tiffany uses a lot of
heavy, dark colors to create the molten state of blended colors in
the green textures. Tiffany also uses a technique of opalescent
textured glass for “drapery glass” in “Landscape.” He uses
opalescent glass to capture the lush, beauty of nature allow this
landscape painting of glass to become remarkably descriptive.
Tiffany
controls the sunlight through the window by using light pastel colors
of blue and yellow for the sky. He’s able to capture the natural
sunlight in order to acquire movement within the landscape. He also
uses a “confetti glass” in the left portion of the portrait that
captivates the pastel color palate that immediately draws the eye.
The use of these pastel towards the roses. The light casts upon the
staircase that leads into the garden. The heavy textures on the
trees help capture the shadow effect from the sunset, creating the
illusion of sunlight within the painting. In the far distance, the
tip of the greek temple peaks over the horizon to create an exotic
feel to the painting. With the inclusion of a Greek Temple, there
is a sense of tempering the grandiose exotic and elaborate motifs.
Tiffany spent a lot of time traveling in Europe and the inclusion of
the Greek Temple could have been inspired by his trip to Europe, but
he also captures the essence of that exotic art and beauty that was
once desired by American collectors, by including the temple.
Tiffany
captures the essence of movement and time in this portrait and
presents it as a challenge he was capable of overcoming. One could
imagine that as the sun sets through the window itself, the portrait
captures the sunset, as well as the sunrise. In designing this
piece, Tiffany states, “This invention consists in the combination,
in a colored glass window, of a mosaic of opalescent glass with a
mosaic of colored glass, the two mosaics of sections being separated
by an intervening air-spare, so as to permit of the free passage of
the rays of light through one mosaic before it passes to and through
the other mosaic."6
He does create and design the temple and the pillars suitable to his
own time and place to create a soft harmonious atmosphere that is
appropriate to family living.
Tiffany's
stained glass inspired a sense of harmony and feeling in a room.
Stained glass in America up to that time was generally of poor color
and quality. Tiffany’s Favrile glass medium raises the level of
stained glass art. His aim in creating stained-glass art was to
create a “thing of beauty” and to draw attention towards color
and light. In early 1879, stained glass windows grew into a popular
trend that was often displayed in store windows and apartments.
Today, stained glass windows have been installed in Bloomsburg State
College and it is said that the presents of Tiffany’s stained-glass
windows help create a tranquil affect and changed the attitude of
students on campus.7
Is the same tranquil affect be captured on a much smaller scale?
It is shown in many of his work over the years that his passion was focused more on the discovery of new art, rather than the application of it. There is no doubt, however, that a majority of Tiffany's works of art are utilitarian.8 To class the exquisite pieces into which favrile glass is manufactured with utilitarian products, Tiffany designed and created these two Wisteria Tiffany lamps [figure 2]. Not only was Tiffany a great artist, he had a good mind for business. Which is why it would not be surprising to learn that the creation and design of the Tiffany lamps were inspired by Thomas Edison's invention of the incandescent light bulb in 1879. His invention inspired artists to rethink the lamp design, and Tiffany, “capitalized on his brilliance to illuminate extraordinary colors of glass, mobilizing it and shrinking the stained glass art to smaller scale.” 9
It is shown in many of his work over the years that his passion was focused more on the discovery of new art, rather than the application of it. There is no doubt, however, that a majority of Tiffany's works of art are utilitarian.8 To class the exquisite pieces into which favrile glass is manufactured with utilitarian products, Tiffany designed and created these two Wisteria Tiffany lamps [figure 2]. Not only was Tiffany a great artist, he had a good mind for business. Which is why it would not be surprising to learn that the creation and design of the Tiffany lamps were inspired by Thomas Edison's invention of the incandescent light bulb in 1879. His invention inspired artists to rethink the lamp design, and Tiffany, “capitalized on his brilliance to illuminate extraordinary colors of glass, mobilizing it and shrinking the stained glass art to smaller scale.” 9
Tiffany designed
between 1902 and 1918, two table-top Wisteria Tiffany lamps. Sitting
at 27 inches and 16 inches, these two lamps display a blended colors
created in the Favrile glass technique. The use of “confetti
glass” and Tiffany doesn’t use the molten state affect as heavily
as he did with the landscape piece. The small branches that curve
out from the top of the shade is the only hint of colors that are
blended and molten. Like the stained glass window, the lamp shade is
put together, piece-by-piece in order to give it more intricate
details in the floral design. The opalescent colors are similar in
the way they are used in “Landscape with a Greek Temple.” The
yellows and the blues are the light pastel colors controls where the
light shines through, and creates soft calming hues of purple and
blue that project a sense of a calm, tranquil atmosphere. The base
of the lamps are ceramic and are designed into very finely detailed
tree trunks where the roots of the trees stretch around the base.
Tiffany's signature of favrile glass and his use of “drapery”
glass makes his lamps more dramatic and captivates movement, as if
the floral cascades were moving in a breeze.
Tiffany, and
Associated Artists pioneered designs for the industry. Medieval
methods were considered inadequate and in some cases out of date, and
didn’t really allow room for Tiffany to express the character of
his culture. His introduction of American glass art provides that
sense of domestic artistry that Americans had so little of during the
early twentieth century. Borrowing from the orient, Turkish and
Indian sources, he was able to incorporate his innovative technique
of Favrile glass and foreign art and turn it in to American glass
art. Rather than try to copy a design from European historical
styles, Tiffany wanted to adapt and evolve American styles in his
attempt to create harmonious decorative art that merged
“appropriateness and individuality.”10
The “Landscape
with a Greek Temple” and the “Wisteria Lamps” are just two
examples of how Louis C. Tiffany has raised the level of decorative
art to a higher level. We could argue that contemporary artists like
Chihuly have been able to tame and evolve the vision of glass art,
but Tiffany has been able to obtain the beauty of glass art through
Favrile glass and it will forever be a treasure of America. Favrile
glass was a long stride in progress when Tiffany first began using
it, but it would without a doubt remain the most beautiful
curiosities of the art industries without the cleverness and
perfection of Tiffany.11
2
Stuart P. Feld, "Nature in Her Most Seductive Aspects: Louis
Comfort Tiffany's Favrile Glass,” The
Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin,
No. 3 (1962) :112
3 Wilson
H. Faude, “Associated Artists and the American Renaissance in the
Decorative Arts,”
Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 10 (1975): 101
4 Doreen
Bolger Burke, “Louis Comfort Tiffany and His Early Training at
Eagleswood, 1862-1865,” American
Art Journal, No.
9(1987): 31-32.
6
Judith Saks, “Tiffany's Household Decoration: A Landscape
Window,” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, No. 8
(1976): 233.
9 Frances
K. Pohl, “Work and Art Redefined: The End of a Century: Art,
Architecture, and the World's Columbian Exposition,” Framing
America,
3rd
Edition: 310.
10
Wilson H. Faude, “Associated Artists and the American Renaissance
in the Decorative Arts,” Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 10
(1975):102-104
