Tiffany Lamps and Lighting from the Morse Collection

Tiffany Lamps and Lighting From the Morse Collection

WINTER PARK, FLORIDA Many of Tiffany’s early lamps were Although Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933) was an oil lit and later adapted for use with Tiffany Lamp Screens international success before his first lamp, it is the lamps more the incandescent bulb (patented by Thomas Edison in 1879). The increasing than anything else that has extended the breadth and depth availability of electricity in the home by of his popularity across America and through time, from the the end of the nineteenth century greatly enhanced the use and demand 1890s to this day. With his lamps and lighting fixtures and, for Tiffany lamps. it must be admitted his commercial acumen, Tiffany created As an example of the choice available to consumers, the Tiffany Price List a signature style of lighting that captured the American and of October 1906 that included lamps European audiences and now fascinates and charms people all contained about a 100 varieties of oil bases, more than 150 electric bases, 127 over the world. Not only was he among the first to integrate leaded shades for bases, and 18 hanging the new invention of electric light into the architecture of the leaded shades. Also listed were three dozen lamps—including the Cobweb Lamp screens were among the fancy home, but he created objects of great beauty that continue to lamp—that were to be sold as one unit goods offered for sale with Tiffany illuminate our lives. with base and shade included. Blown- lamps. These decorative screens were glass shades were sold separately in a attached to a large lamp’s finial by range of designs and sizes. chain and suspended below the shade, Selection together with copper and welded shielding the person below from the In its 1900 Lamps and Fixtures catalogue, together, producing the effect found in Marketing and Sales bare light bulbs. These leaded-glass 2 3 Tiffany Studios boasted that, “We will our floral and geometrical windows.” “We are going after the money there screens were available in the shapes of submit designs, estimates and sugges- The conical- and dome-shaped shades is in art, but art is there all the same,” the winged insects that appropriately tions for every branch of decorative were the most widely marketed and Louis Tiffany once told Candace would hover around Tiffany’s garden lighting.” sold; other more complex—and expen- Wheeler, an early partner in interior of floral-patterned lamps, includ- Indeed, the styles and subject matter sive—shades, such as the Cobweb and design. ing the Dragonfly, Butterfly, and Moth of Tiffany lamps were many. Sales cata- Wistaria, were dramatically sculptural. Few did more to bring art into the designs. The design for another Tiffany logues, documentary photographs, and home than Tiffany did throughout his screen, the Winged Figure, is attrib- photographic plates that survive from career. Tiffany lamps were available for uted to Czech artist Alphonse Mucha Tiffany Studios help confirm the vast public consumption for the first time (1860–1939). selection of lamps available. There were in 1894 and were initially advertised standing lamps and hanging lamps, in 1898. The leaded-glass shades were Above: Lamp screen, Winged Figure design, c. 1910. reading lamps and library lamps, wall introduced the following year. Lamps Leaded glass and bronze (2004-013). fixtures and ceiling fixtures. There were could be purchased from Tiffany Studios even lamps to house candles. Some showrooms and catalogues, Tiffany & were only within the reach of the glass shades were made in one piece, Co. stores, from various art galleries financially successful. According to the blown in the same way as Tiffany vases. (including Siegfried Bing’s L’Art publication Tiffany Bronze Lamps, the Other shades incorporated pressed-glass Nouveau in Paris) and from department Claflin balanced lamp sold with shade for tiles called turtlebacks. stores such as Nieman Marcus and $37—at the lower end of the Studio’s The leaded-glass shades, for which Marshall Field and Company. lamp prices. The more labor-intensive Tiffany is best known today, were Despite the common belief that Dragonfly & Water shade with base went described in a Tiffany Bronze Lamps Reading lamp, Scarab design, c. 1898. Tiffany made lamps for the masses, the for $155. Silver or gold finishes to the catalogue as “pieces of glass bound Pressed glass and bronze (70-012). majority of the company’s lamp designs bronze would increase the cost; special

tiffany lamps and lighting tiffany lamps and lighting commissions would be even more. The rare Cobweb lamp, sold for $500. This Lampshade Sample Panels lamp is a conversion of an oil lamp; the oil reservoir was hidden in the lovely Sample patterns were important Lampshade narcissi mosaic base. tools for glass selectors in the sample panel, Considering that the average annual production of Tiffany lampshades. October Night design, after 1900. household income in 1900 was $637, One was made for each lampshade Leaded glass, purchasing a Tiffany lamp was quite model and stamped with that shade’s (64-020). a sizeable investment. For this reason, model number and name. Tiffany’s Tiffany lamps were not only unique opalescent glass was noted for its and beautiful embellishments for the extraordinary range of color, texture, home but status symbols as well. and translucence. The choice of glass for the shades, each constructed with Design hundreds of individual pieces, was Tiffany Studios employed scores of Library lamp, Dragonfly & Water design, c. 1905. crucial in achieving naturalistic effects people, each with specialized skills Leaded glass and bronze; Clara Driscoll, designer and overall aesthetic and training, in the production of his (66-005). harmony. lamps. Louis Tiffany kept strict control over production and quality, ensuring (1861–1944), who supervised the spected the work of the that everything the Studios created met Women’s Glass Cutting Department lamp department and his standards and taste. In the design and is believed to have designed many encouraged Driscoll’s leaded-glass lamps for Tiffany. creativity. 4 of Tiffany lamps, no individual was 5 more important than Clara Driscoll This group of female employees, known as the “Tiffany Girls,” worked Award-winning Patterns in design, glass selection, and fabrica- Before television and tion. The design tasks included the the Internet, exhibi- production of watercolor studies, tions and world’s fairs presentation drawings for clients, and (expositions) were patterns for cutting the glass. Male major tools used by employees soldered pieces together American manufac- and patinated the lead surfaces. Tiffany turers to advertise and left oversight of Driscoll’s department, develop a worldwide Clara Driscoll, which varied in size but included as reputation. Competitions held far left, back row many as thirty-five women, largely up at these events promoted a standing, and the to company business managers while positive message about U.S. Tiffany Girls on he indulged other, often less-profitable, products and established a the roof of Tiffany Studios, c. 1904-05. areas. Driscoll’s job was to create vision of American society objects worthy of the Tiffany name and culture. within the confines of commercial As early as 1893, Tiffany Design for W.E. Bemis, Larchmont, production governed by the bottom was exhibiting lighting designs New York, c. 1895. line. In her letters, the artist lamented and winning awards. One of Four-light electric newel for den, water- Library lamp, Cobweb design, c. 1900. the absence of the utopian design his “electroliers,” a hanging color and graphite on Leaded glass, mosaic, and bronze; oil lamp converted environment that she craved. Despite lamp of metal and mother-of- paper (72-006). to electric (62-020). some detachment, Tiffany regularly in- pearl, won a lighting prize at

tiffany lamps and lighting tiffany lamps and lighting Tiffany Lighting Chronology

1872–73: Experiments with glass at World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago: Italy: Tiffany Studios awarded grand glasshouses in Brooklyn. Tiffany awarded fifty-four medals, prize for Driscoll’s Pond Lily and including one for lighting. Wistaria lamp designs; Tiffany Studios 1878: Louis C. Tiffany & Company incorporated; Tiffany Furnaces, Inc. formed in New York; opened first 1894: TGDco shows first glassware and opens, reorganized from Stourbridge glasshouse, which burned as did his lamps with blown glass shades in New Glass Company. second attempt a short time later. York City showroom. 1902–5: Laurelton Hall built on Long 1879–85: Prestigious commissions for 1897: Foundry and metal shops Island. interior design that included lighting organized in Corona, New York; first and leaded-glass windows: Veteran’s manufacture of small metalwork objects. 1904: Article on Tiffany Studios lamp Room and Library in the Seventh department published in International Regiment Armory, New York City; 1897–99: Exhibitions at Siegfied Bing’s Studio magazine. drawing room of Cornelius Vanderbilt Paris shop L’Art Nouveau include Library lamp, Wistaria design, c. 1901. Leaded glass II’s residence; Mark Twain residence, blown-glass and electric lamps. Tiffany 1913–14: and bronze (70-020). Hartford, Connecticut; Blue Room, introduces his leaded-glass lamps at an Favrilefabrique East Room, a corridor, and the State 1899 exhibition of his works organized “silk” glass the World’s Columbian Exposition for Dining Room of the Chester A. Arthur by Bing at Grafton Galleries, London. patented by H.O. 6 “a clever combination in which the White House; Lyceum Theater, New Schmidt for 7 technical side of electricity is absolutely York City; and numerous churches. 1898: TGDco advertises Tiffany Tiffany Studios. hidden in the artistic lines.” More “Favrile” glass lamps; produces Tiffany honors would come. 1885: Tiffany Glass Company Favrile Glass–Lamps sales pamphlet. 1924: Tiffany In 1900, Tiffany participated in incorporated. Tiffany artist Clara Driscoll designs ceases lamp the Exposition Universelle in Paris. The Butterfly lamp and works on idea for production. American installation was financed 1885-88: Louis C. Tiffany and Bernard Dragonfly lamp design. Sales continue by the U.S. State Department and was Maybeck decorate the Ponce de Leon from existing carefully designed to define American Hotel in St. Augustine, Florida. 1899: TGDco produces Lamps and inventory. Fixtures sales pamphlet showing Nautilus Reading lamp, Favrile- art and to promote the image of the fabrique shade, Abalone desk United States as a civilized nation. The 1890-92: Louis C. Tiffany redecorates and Dragonfly lamp designs. 1932: Tiffany set, c. 1915. Pressed glass, opalescent glass Tiffany developed for Louisine and Henry Osbourne Studios files for bronze, and abalone shell his leaded-glass windows and lamps Havemeyer’s house in New York City; 1900: Allied Arts Company is bankruptcy. (68-003:17). contributed to this goal by gaining new interiors include elaborate lighting incorporated (formerly TGDco). The recognition as an original American fixtures. firm markets objects under the name 1934: First of several public auctions art form. It was even called “American Tiffany Studios; Exposition Universelle, held to dispose of Tiffany Studios’ glass.” The Paris exposition celebrated 1892: Tiffany Glass and Decorating Paris: Tiffany exhibits mosaics, enamels, inventory. the turn of the century through dis- Company (TGDco) formed. Favrile glass, windows, and lamps plays of the Art Nouveau style and one (Driscoll’s Dragonfly lamp, wins award). 1938: Final liquidation of Louis C. of the greatest technological advances 1893: Glass production facility in Tiffany Studios Corp. in Washington, of the time—electricity. Appropriately, Corona separated from TGDco and 1902: Prima Esposizione Internazionale D.C. Tiffany exhibited lamps that matched named Stourbridge Glass Company; d’Arte Decorativa Moderna in Turin,

tiffany lamps and lighting tiffany lamps and lighting these aesthetic and technological standards. Clara Driscoll’s Dragonfly lamp design, of which many variations followed, was awarded a medal. In 1902, the Prima Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte Decorativa Moderna, in Turin, Italy, focused on the link between beautiful objects and useful things. This ambitious exposition was especially important to manufacturers of decorative art because emphasis was placed upon original objects that showed a true aesthetic renewal of the form. Tiffany Studios was awarded a grand prize for two lamps that transformed standard lamp forms into electrified sculptures from nature: the Pond Lily and Wistaria lamps. No longer having to accommodate a fuel source such as oil, the delicate Decorative lamp, Pond Lily design, ten lights, form of the Pond Lily lamp housed only after 1902. Blown glass and bronze (74-003). wire and small light bulbs that followed 8 the natural down-turned orientation of the lilies. On the Wistaria lamp, the bronze vine completely enveloped the top of the shade, leaving minimal piercing. These designs were possible because electricity did not require the same level of ventilation as an open- flame model.

the charles hosmer morse museum of american art 445 north park avenue winter park, florida 32789 (407) 645-5311 www.morsemuseum.org

On the Cover: Detail, Library lamp, Cobweb design, c. 1900. Leaded glass, mosaic, and bronze; oil lamp converted to electric (62-020).