HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA.- The Huntsville Museum of Art presents "The Lamps of Tiffany: Highlights of the Egon and Hildegard Neustadt Collection," on view at the Boeing, Salmon and Haws Galleries through April 13, 2003. The Lamps of Tiffany features a selection of important works by the legendary American designer, Louis Comfort Tiffany who shaped the taste of American design during the twentieth century. The exhibition features forty-three lamps and two windows from one of the most significant private collections of Tiffany in existence, which includes more than 400 of the artist’s creations. Left: Purple-Grape Table Lamp, c. 1900-10, leaded glass, patinated bronze, 27 1/2 x 18 inches, irregular upper and lower borders group, courtesy of the Neustadt Museum of Tiffany Art.
Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), the celebrated glass designer, was the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, the legendary founder of the silver and jewelry firm, Tiffany and Co. Louis chose to pursue his love of art instead of following in the family business, gaining acclaim for his oils and watercolors in the 1860s and 1870s. In the 1880s, however, he turned his attention to interior design as "a way to provide good art for American homes." His remarkable career spanned 57 years.
As one of America’ s most influential artists, designers and craftsmen of the century, Tiffany wanted to bring decorative arts to the same status as fine arts. The lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany signify this quest to bring beauty into the home. After collaborating to light the first movie theater, friend Thomas Edison suggested the idea of making electric fixtures. Tiffany soon began to create lamps as small versions of his exquisite stained-glass windows and developed the idea into a new art form. Tiffany’s lamps were and still are recognized for their superior design and handcrafted details.
In addition to bringing beauty to the masses, Tiffany also made discoveries in the process for formulating glass. Tiffany developed a unique process that created bolder colors, opalescent sheens and a broader range of textures for artisans. He patented four types of glass over a period of two decades and worked with teams of craftsmen to manufacture stained-glass windows, lamps and lamp bases.
The motifs in Tiffany’s elaborate lamps were inspired by his love of nature. Some patterns featured in The Lamps of Tiffany include: dragonflies, the tracery of spiderwebs, dogwoods, peacock feathers and peonies. Tiffany stated that his lamps allowed more people to enjoy the elements of nature, such as flowers in bloom, all year long in the beauty of his glass.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Tiffany lamps were considered too ornate by modern fashion standards and lost their popular appeal. By the late 1950s, Tiffany objects were rediscovered with great interest by collectors and museums. In 1998, two Tiffany lamps made the top ten list of United States auction prices for decorative arts bringing in nearly $2 million each.
