Louis Comfort Tiffany Opens a Window of Color on American Art

Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany & Co.Company, Associated Arts provided stained glass
in 1837, succeeded in providing the wealthy withwindows for private and public buildings.
classic handcrafted silver jewelry. The familiar blueFascinated by ancient Roman and Greek glass that
box and white ribbon continues to be the staple forhad been recovered by archaeologists, Tiffany's
Tiffany & Co., enticing buyers since thepursuit to duplicate an iridescent finish became his
beginning, attracting luminaries such as Queen Victoriaobsession and by 1880 he had applied for several
of England, and continues to keeps with Tiffany'spatents on this type of finish.
vision of beautiful, enduring pieces of jewelry.Tiffany's design of stained glass windows became
Tiffany's son, Louis Comfort Tiffany didn't live in hisincreasing popular and he came up with an innovative
father's shadow; in fact, he prospered in the artisticidea to use the bits of glass left over to create
realm, with stained glass artwork and mosaics. Hestunning Tiffany lamps. During a job lighting the first
was born on February 18, 1848 in New York City,ever movie theater, Tiffany collaborated with
and it wasn't long before he strayed from the familyThomas Edison. Surging together with Edison, the
business.two designed electric lamps. This great collaboration
Tiffany began his apprenticeship under Americaninfluenced Tiffany to continue creating lamps, and his
landscape artist George Inness in 1866 at the age ofmini stain glass designs took the nation by storm.
18, absorbing the concepts of composition, color andTiffany Lamps were either designed by Tiffany
technique. In his 20's, he had the opportunity tohimself or by artists that were fully under his
travel Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa.supervision, and with superb craftsmanship.
Fortunately, due to his family's wealth, he was ableDuring the 1930's and 1940's the reputation of
to visit Europe more than once between 1865 andTiffany Style Lamps succumbed to the popular Art
1872. It was during these trips, that TiffanyModerne and Expressionism styles. Tiffany Lamps
developed a love and interest in Islamic architecture,were thought too ornate for the emerging
Moorish and Romanesque artwork and Japanesedécor, and it wasn't until the 1950's that the
ceramics.lamps became popular again. Antique collectors and
His studies in stained glass began in 1872 at the agemuseums popularized the mosaic beauties once again,
of 24. Upon returning to America, he startedand in 1998 two lamps sold for nearly 2 million dollars
experiments with iridescent glass by combiningapiece.
heated glass, fumes and metallic oxides. TheseGroundbreaking, with a true love of his craft, Louis C.
experiments were done jointly with painter John LaTiffany's lighting concepts are still admired today and
Farge; Tiffany and La Farge studied the practice ofan original Tiffany lamp remains a valuable possession.
glass making at the Heidt Glassworks in Brooklyn,With his passion for color, the outdoors and
New York.illumination, Tiffany turned the light on for a nation,
In 1879, Tiffany founded the Louis C. Tiffanyshowing elegance through inspiring chips of glass.