Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) – the famous decorator of the American “golden era”. He received an art education, traveled a lot, studying the culture and art of the Old World and the East.
Tiffany was active for more than half a century, from 1870 to the mid-1920s. He possessed many talents in various fields of art.
In terms of the breadth of interests and the multitude of talents, L.C. Tiffany can be called a Renaissance man who used his artistic abilities in many areas, including painting, furniture, textiles, ceramics, book design, jewelry art. In the late 1870s, he became fascinated by the decorative possibilities of glass, drawing inspiration from Gothic stained glass while experimenting with new types of glass and stained glass techniques.
Tiffany founded his first glass company in 1892 in Queens, New York and named it Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company. It was here that in 1893, together with chemist Parker C. McIlheeney and the company’s chief foreman, Arthur J. Nash (1849-1934), Tiffany developed the unique Favrile glass.
Tiffany began selling his famous lampshades in the mid-1890s and around 1898 achieved a leading position in the market. Sales of Tiffany lamps peaked between 1900-1914, although their production continued until the 1930s.
The molten glass was treated with metal oxides, which reacted with the glass to create a luxurious iridescent effect on the surface. At first, the workshop produced glass for mosaics and stained glass, and soon began to produce hand-blown glass art.
This selection features blown glass vases by Tiffany Studios from the collection of Jay and Micah Doros (sourced from Sotheby’s website).