Tiffany Favrile Pottery and the Quest of Beauty

ȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢ ȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢȢJanuary 7, 2011 Newsstand Rate $1.50 INDEXES ON Outside CT $1.75 Published by The Bee Publishing Company, Newtown, Connecticut PAGES 66 & 67 “Tiffany Favrile Pottery And The Quest Of Beauty” Sheds New Light On Tiffany’s Operations BY REGINA KOLBE Eidelberg explained, “In the 1960s and 1970s, most NEW YORK CITY — Several years ago, when of the Tiffany scholarship was a dreary repetition of a Dr Martin Eidelberg brought to light the role few known facts. In the last ten to 15 years, new played by Clara Driscoll and the “Tiffany Girls” archival material has come up. First, all material in the Louis Comfort Tiffany studios, it exposed saved by Leslie Nash, son of Arthur J. Nash, Tiffany’s an unknown chapter in the design impresario’s head chemist and manager, was bought by a Japan- history. Eidelberg’s new research on Tiffany ese collector and went to Japan. A few years ago, let- Favrile pottery yields yet another layer of ters written almost every week for almost ten years insight into one of America’s great decorative by Clara Driscoll came to light. The final break was arts stories. finding and reading the memoir written by Edith In the recently published book, Tiffany Wilhelmine Lautrup, the first manager of the pottery, Favrile Pottery and the Quest for Beauty, Eidel- who later returned to her native Denmark.” berg sets straight mistakes and misconceptions The pottery story begins in 1900 when Louis Com- that have accompanied the modern under- fort Tiffany had already made his name as a colorist, standing of Tiffany ceramics. The book is a painter, designer of decorative arts and a horticul- revealing across the board, categorizing and turist. His studios were synonymous with Favrile listing, for the first time, the shapes and glazes glass vases, radiant leaded-glass windows and elabo- of more than 400 forms, as well as hallmarks rate mosaics. His exhibit at the Paris World’s Fair of and their meanings. An associated exhibition 1900 was the toast of the fair. featuring 60 rare examples culled from private Yet Tiffany, by then, was on the prowl for new inter- collections is currently on view at the Manhat- ests. Ceramics, particularly the highly organic forms tan gallery Lillian Nassau, LLC. produced by the Scandinavian manufacturers, According to the scholar, “‘Tiffany vase’ has appealed to him. been generically used to describe iridescent In the United States at that time, the Rookwood glass made at the turn of the century.” It was Pottery and the Grueby Pottery were the most promi- one of these so-called Tiffany vases Eidelberg nent art potteries. Artus Van Briggle Pottery, Ade- saw as a child that inspired his 60-year-long laide Alsop Robineau and dozens of other small stu- interest in the subject. A few years and exhibi- dios were still destined to make names for tions later, Eidelberg came under the tutelage themselves. Needless to say, none had the cachet or of Lillian Nassau, founder of Lillian Nassau, the resources of a Tiffany. LLC, and one of the first dealers of Tiffany In secret and with highly controlled news leaks to glass. In 2007, he collaborated with Arlie stir commercial interest, Tiffany and his craftsmen Sulka, the current owner of Lillian Nassau, began to experiment with pottery. As though to whet LLC, to publish Tiffany Favrile Glass and the the public’s appetite for art pottery, he showed the Quest of Beauty. most avant-garde of Parisian pottery at his annual The second project in that continued collabo- 1901 spring exhibition. ration has resulted in the more recently pub- Meanwhile, in the design studio in Corona, Queens, lished tome. N.Y., preparations for production were under way. The pottery, which many scholars mytholo- Arthur J. Nash, who had been head of the glass blow- gized as having been hand-thrown on the wheel ing division and later the enameling department, by Tiffany himself, stimulated a rethinking of emerged as both chief chemist and manager. His abil- the issues and entirely new research. ity to source formulas, such as the “vellum” or dulled Luckily, in the 1960s Eidelberg had been able surface matte glaze that became the vogue of the Arts to interview 95-year-old Julia Munson, who and Crafts style, made him indispensable. had worked in Tiffany’s enamel department These formulas were kept in notebooks that never and remembered some of the people in the pot- left his person until they were passed on to Nash’s tery. Ultimately, Eidelberg’s inquiries took him The green glaze imitates the color of spring on this vase son, Leslie. It was not until a decade ago that the to Philadelphia, Corning, N.Y., St Louis, Japan with cyclamen. Courtesy of a New York private collec- books were opened to scholars. and Denmark. A century’s worth of closely tion. While the clay mixture was not porcelain, it was a guarded secrets were culled from scattered composition rich in kaolin, the deciding component in notes, business records and formula books. porcelain. The marketing department promoted the earthenware ceramics as “semi-porcelain” and “por- cellaneous.” Historical misrepresentations attribute some of the first master pots to the hand of Tiffany. They also alleged that only he could scratch his LCT on the base. Tiffany, however, was not a hands-on artisan (continued on page 41) This substantial cabbage-form vase is a highlight of the Lillian Nassau exhibition. Its predominately red, multicolored glaze This squat creamer with water lily pads and is a triumph of Arthur Nash’s manipula- Artichoke vase in the form of bud in a popular green buds is only 3 inches tall, yet it makes a strong tion of the chemistry of glazes. Courtesy glaze. Both Arthur Nash and son Leslie kept their formu- statement. Courtesy of a New York private col- Lillian Nassau, LLC, New York City. las hidden from assistants and from Tiffany himself. lection. January 7, 2011 — Antiques and The Arts Weekly — 41 “Tiffany Favrile Pottery And The Quest Of Beauty” Sheds New Light On Tiffany’s Operations Coupe with water lilies and frogs stands 6½ A Chinese trumpet-form vase shows inches high. Courtesy of a New York private A covered jar with high-relief the influence of modern Orientalism. collection. grapes. (continued from page 1) Paris Salon of the Société des subtle glazes was a rich Both Alice Gouvy and Lillian Artistes Français. Here, Tiffany caramel streaked with dark Palmié’s nature study watercol- Vase with poppies in the Old and had instead a large staff introduced a cylindrical vase brown. ors, as well as dried specimens, Ivory glaze that compounds charged with carrying out his decorated with trumpet blos- Influenced not only by the covered the atelier walls. From the organic experience. ideas of color and form. soms and a covered bowl with Scandinavian and French mak- concept to clay, the process Edith Wilhelmine Wessel Virginia creeper. ers, Tiffany’s aesthetic extend- included low relief or three- Lautrup, a Danish immigrant Charles de Kay notes in ed to the Oriental ceramics. His dimensional sculpted forms. who had worked at Bing & Tiffany’s biography that the personal collection spanned While the women designed, Grøndahl, was the first head of designer considered himself examples as ornate as highly men did the heavy work of the pottery department. The first and foremost a colorist painted Chinese porcelains and grinding the clay, making the design staff consisted mostly of and was quite taken with the as spare as Japanese tea jars. mixtures, stoking the fires. women. process of the glazes. Of the Also of interest to him were The Tiffany ceramic aesthetic After three years of closed- pottery he kept for himself at European ceramics taken from was universal. The parallels door experimentation, Tiffany Laurelton Hall, most are rela- Oriental types. The echo of between Bing & Grøndahl and offered up to the public a line of tively simple forms covered their clean lines resonates certain Tiffany ceramic vases, pottery lamp bases. Coupled with irregularly streaked throughout the pottery form. such as one with arrowhead with the Favrile glass shades glazes or bursts of vivid color. There was another aspect to plants and a snake, have not that were generally used with In the beginning, glazes had Tiffany pottery that made it escaped notice. Likewise, a fuel lamps rather than the been applied locally to achieve both for and of its time, and Tiffany vase with unfurling now-familiar leaded glass a pictorial effect. This soon that is the imitation of nature. fern heads suggests appropria- shades, the first ceramics had a gave way to bleeding glazes Ferns, jacks-in-the-pulpit, Indi- tion. purely functional form. They that offered unpredictable color an pipes, tulips and crocuses, To stay au courant, Tiffany were squat with a low center of formations. These share a her- cherries, trumpet flowers, hol- added metal mountings to the gravity to prevent tipping and itage with Far Eastern glazes, lyhocks and lilies all offered pottery in accordance with the their wide mouths accommo- as well as the works of French inspiration to the designers. latest European fashion. These dated the fuel canisters. artists featured in Tiffany’s Everyday vegetables, such as were marketed as bronze but Most of the pottery bases were first in-store exhibition in artichokes, beets, eggplant, cab- were, in fact, fashioned of cop- unadorned, although early 1901. bage and corn, cast in clay per. In some cases, silver plat- design features included a Arguably, the most popular never looked so good. ing was used. Romanesque motif, a lion deco- glazes were Old Ivory and the Some of the designs were From the start, Tiffany pot- ration and, the most organic of moss greens.

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