Gall e r y I X R ARE AND REMARK ABLE ART POTTERY OF LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY

O B J ECT GUI D E

Largely produced between 1900 and 1915, Louis Comfort Tiffany’s art pottery was encouraged by reverberations from the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia, where excitement over ceramic exhibits helped launch the American Art Pottery movement.

By 1904, Louis Comfort Tiffany seedpods, artichokes, water lilies (1848–1933) publicly debuted his and more have been reproduced pottery at the Louisiana Purchase in clay with astonishing realism. Exposition in St. Louis. Tiffany Most Tiffany pottery was made distinguished his pottery with in limited castings from molds, complex glazing and forms based finished by hand, and individually on a wide variety of sources. The glazed. Each therefore was unique. Morse’s holdings—the largest Ultimately, Tiffany’s pottery was public collection of T iffany pottery defined by the artist’s never- anywhere—extend from early ending experimentation. This production to late. Motifs from presentation of selections from the the natural world predominate; Museum’s collection celebrates the design genius’s achievements with Above: Fern tendrils bowl, c. 1902. Glazed ceramics which proved irresistible and unglazed white clay; Tiffany Studios, in his pursuit of beauty. New York City, 1902–32 (63-001). All objects were designed by Louis 2) Left to right: Vase, c. 1910 5) Bowl, c. 1905 Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933) or one of Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora) Fern tendrils his artists and made under the name of Vase, c. 1902 Bronze Pottery line Glazed and unglazed white clay one of his companies in New York City. Glazed white clay Electroplated and glazed white clay Marks: [conjoined LCT ] Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / (63-001) 1) Left to right: (66-033) B.P 113 / L.C. Tiffany-Favrile Bronze Pottery 6) Left to right: Vase, c. 1901–2 Vase, c. 1902 (2003-015) Glazed white clay Seed pods Bowl, c. 1910 Designer: Edith Wilhelmine Glazed white clay Bowl, c. 1910 Sparrow and thistles Wessel Lautrup, Danish, Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 / H Legume pods Glazed white clay 1875–1963 (76-005) Bronze Pottery line Marks: [conjoined Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / P / Electroplated and glazed LCT] / 7 57F / EL 3) Clockwise from upper left: white clay (66-002) (79-526) Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / Vase, c. 1910 Tiffany-Favrile Bronze Pottery / Globe artichoke Vase, c. 1903 [crossed out B.P 215] / APPLICATION OF METALWORK Water lilies (Cynara cardunculus) B.P 387 / 3922 Glazed white clay Tiffany worked with experts, Glazed white clay (95-014) including chemists, to achieve his Marks: [conjoined Marks: [conjoined design goals. Parker Cairns McIlhiney LCT ] / 7 / P 1304 LCT ] / 7 4) Left to right: L. C. Tiffany- (62-011) (1870–1923), who also advised Tiffany Favrile Pottery Bowl, c. 1905 on his enamelwork, experimented Vase, c. 1905 (66-031) Glazed white clay with applications of metal coatings Glazed white clay Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 on pottery. Electroplating—using Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 / , c. 1902 (66-016) an electric current to deposit a thin Vase P. 1085 L. C. Tiffany Favrile-Pottery Milkweed pods layer of metal to a surface—had been (69-007) Glazed white clay Vase, c. 1905 popularly used in the nineteenth Designer: Alice Carmen Gouvy, Glazed white clay century to provide the public with American, 1863–1924 Marks: [conjoined silver-plated metalware as an affordable Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / P / AG LCT] / 7 / option to sterling silver. Applying (76-013) P. 1271 L. C. Tiffany the technique to ceramics, Tiffany Favrile Pottery developed lines with bronze, silver, and Paper label: [conjoined LCT ] / gold applications over molded white EARLY EXPERIMENTATION WITH GLAZES [TIFFANY] FAVRILE [GLASS clay. Today, it is believed that unglazed By 1902, Tiffany was experimenting with glazes— REGISTERED TRADE MARK] clay pieces with glazed interiors were specifically glaze pigmented to fill in and define the (1999-114) intended to be botanical forms he was producing in white clay. Tiffany electroplated. In was interested in the thick glazes of Asian pottery like Vase, c. 1905 addition, pottery lead-glazed Japanese earthenware called Raku, as well as Artichoke vessels were the multitoned, drippy glazes popular with art potters in Glazed white clay France. T iffany had studied French glazes firsthand at the Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 often adorned 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle and during an exhibition of French pottery (80-015) with overlays of he hosted at Tiffany Studios in 1901. In Tiffany’s biography, The Art Work of Louis metal bands or C. Tiffany, Charles de Kay noted, “Glazes on pottery claimed much of [Tiffany’s] floral and vine time. . .” with particular personal interest in “the variation and blending of colors, decoration, as and the depth of quality of the glaze.” pictured right.

R are and Rem ark able R a re a nd Rem ark a b l e Vase, c. 1910 TIFFANY POTTERY DESIGNERS 10) Vase, c. 1910 Bowl, c. 1910 Maple leaves Dogwood Fish Bronze Pottery line Tiffany’s art pottery reflects the Bronze Pottery line Bronze Pottery line Electroplated and glazed talent of a small group of women Electroplated and Electroplated and white clay designers selected by Louis Comfort glazed white clay glazed white clay Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / B.P. 298 / Tiffany. T he Enamel and Pottery Marks: [conjoined Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / L.C. Tiffany-Favrile Bronze Pottery Department was referred to by Clara LCT] / B.P. 362 / L.C. Tiffany-Favrile Bronze Pottery / (79-555) L.C. Tiffany-Favrile B. P 392 Driscoll (1861–1944), head of the Bronze Pottery (55-009) Women’s Glass Cutting Department (2002-040) 7) Left to right: at Tiffany Studios, as “Little Arcadia.” Vase, c. 1905 11) Left to right: Water poppy Vase, c. 1905 The walls of their studio in Corona, Queens, New York, were decorated (Hydrocleys nymphoides) and snake Celery stalks Bowl, c. 1910 Glazed white clay Glazed white clay with beautiful watercolor studies Fish Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 Marks: [conjoined from nature, and the alluring place Unglazed and glazed white clay (77-039) LCT] / P. 1343 was filled with creativity. T hese artists Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 L.C. Tiffany- interacted directly with Tiffany and (66-018) Vase, c. 1910 Favrile Pottery experimented with glazes with Arthur Water poppy (74-026) Bowl, c. 1901 (Hydrocleys nymphoides) and snake J. Nash (1849–1934), superintendent Fish Bronze Pottery line Pitcher, c. 1905 at Tiffany Furnaces. Glazed white clay Electroplated and glazed Cattails Designer: Edith Wilhelmine Wessel white clay Glazed white clay Lautrup, Danish, 1875–1963 Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 / Vase with mount, c. 1905 Marks: [conjoined EL ] / L.C. Tiffany-Favrile Bronze Pottery / P. 1157 L.C. Tiffany-Inc. [conjoined LCT] / P B.P 315 Flower and leaf motif (74-027) Favrile Pottery Glazed white clay, copper (79-549) (79-527) Marks: [conjoined LCT ] /7 / BP 512 / L.C. Tiffany-Favrile- 8) Left to right: MULTIPLES Pottery / Bronze Hugh F. McKean (1908–95), the Morse Museum’s visionary Marks, mount: Louis C. Tiffany Vase, c. 1910 FAVRILE 102 first director, appreciated the virtue of individual variations Bronze Pottery line (76-030: A&B) of the same form displayed as multiples. Possibly learning of Electroplated and glazed Tiffany’s interest in glazes while a fellow at the Louis Comfort white clay 9) Vase, c. 1905 Tiffany Foundation at Laurelton Hall, McKean collected Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / many models of T iffany’s pottery with glaze variations. On 7 / BP 515 L.C. Tiffany-Favrile Glazed white clay view in this exhibition are three swimming-fish bowls and Bronze Pottery Marks: [conjoined (81-007) LCT] / 7 / 4655 / two Hydrocleys nymphoides (water-poppy)-and-snake vases P 247 / Tiffany- (one pictured left). Seven other sets, including vases shaped as Vase, c. 1910 Favrile-Pottery wisteria pods and gourds, are in the collection. Corn stalks (96-002) The three crocus vases on exhibit were cast from the same mold but finished Bronze Pottery line with different glaze treatments. One vase, acquired in 1995, was a gift from Electroplated and glazed Tiffany’s business manager Joseph Briggs (1873–1937) to his daughter. It has white clay a simple yellow-green glaze. In one of two crocus vases formerly in Tiffany’s Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 / personal collection at Laurelton Hall, the Old Ivory glaze fills the recesses of the 6262 / B.P 279 / vase design in thick, dark glaze while shaping the convex areas in thinner, lighter L.C. Tiffany-Favrile Bronze Pottery glaze to articulate the leaves and buds. In the second, a rich green glaze more (77-026) uniform in color emphasizes the vase’s overall shape. T ogether, the three vases show how impactful a glaze can be to a three-dimensional form.

R a re a nd Rem a r k a b l e R are and Rem ark a b l e 12) Left to right: A-COLL: THE ARTIST’S COLLECTION Vase, c. 1905 Tiffany intended his Long Island Crocus country estate, Laurelton Hall, built Glazed white clay between 1902 and 1905, to become Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 a museum to house works reflective (95-009) of his quest of beauty—whether created by him personally, by one of Vase, c. 1905 his companies, or by others whom Crocus he felt especially inspirational. In the A-Coll from mansion, Tiffany displayed a limited Laurelton Hall number (around 300) of his own art Glazed white clay glass, pottery, and enamelwork that he Marks: [conjoined marked with the inscription A-Coll LCT ] / P570 L.C. for “artist’s collection.” Most of these Tiffany- / Favrile works were sold at Parke-Bernet’s Pottery / 67 A Coll (now Sotheby’s) five-day auction of (2018-023:2) property from Laurelton Hall in 1946. This trove of A-Coll art provides Vase, c. 1905 insight into Tiffany’s ideals and his Crocus concept of successful design. Hugh and A-Coll from Laurelton Hall Jeannette McKean, who rescued works Glazed white clay from Laurelton Hall after the 1957 fire, Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 / had an early and discerning pursuit 68 A-Coll. / L.C. Tiffany-Favrile / Pottery of A-Coll pieces. Because of their (2018-023:3) prescience in sifting through the levels of Tiffany artwork available in the 13) Vase, c. 1908 1950s through the 1980s, the Morse Maple can represent to visitors something of Bronze Pottery line the museum Tiffany himself curated at Electroplated and glazed Laurelton Hall. white clay Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 / Favrile Bronze Pottery Gift of the Rothbaum Family (2009-033)

14) Vase, c. 1910 Glazed white clay, copper, glass Marks: [conjoined LCT ] / 7 (66-030) 445 north park avenue, winter park, florida 32789 407-645-5311 morsemuseum.org

©2019 Charles Hosmer Morse Foundation, Inc.