Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist who lived from 1848 to 1933. He became well known for his work on stained glass which he used in many different settings including windows, enamels, metalwork, lamps and jewelry. He is usually associated with the Aesthetic and Art Noveau movement and was also a member of the prestigious Associated Artists along with other well known artists of the time including Samuel Colman, Lockwood De Forest and Candace Wheeler.

The Tiffany Company was founded by his father Charles Lewis Tiffany. Louis was initially interested in becoming a painter but developed an interest in glassmaking around 1875 and learned the techniques by working in glass making factories until 1878. In 1885 he founded the Tiffany Glass Company which became known as Tiffany Studios in 1902.

His first experiments with glassmaking used cheap jelly jars and bottles which contained impurities that he used to make unique designs. He tried to persuade fine glass makers to leave in the impurities so that he could produce his unique designs but he failed to persuade the, Instead he founded his own glassmaking company where he could produce glass to his own specifications. Previously, stained glass was made by painting on clear glass but he used opalescent glass in various colours and textures to make his own original designs.

In 1983 he founded the Stourbridge Glass Company and built his new factory to produce his stained glass. In 1893 he produced his first stained glass designs and exhibited lamps for the first time at the Chicago venue of the World’s Fair that year.

In 1894 he trademarked the term Favrile, a word form the French meaning handmade which he applied to all his enamel, glass and pottery products. From 1895 his company produced stained glass, lamps and other interior decorations.

Today a comprehensive collection of Tiffany’s work is housed in Florida at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. Included are examples of Tiffany lead glass windows. lamps, paintings, pottery, jewelry and more. The interior of a chapel, designed for the World’s Columbian Exposition which was held in Chicago in 1893, can also be seen there. Glass panels originally placed in the home of Louis, Laurelton Hall, are also exhibited at the museum.

The company founded by his father, the Tiffany Company, also sold his produced and in 1902, after the death of his father, he became the Artistic Director. His company Tiffany Studios ceased business in 1932.

Collecting Genuine Tiffany Lamps

One of the most popular collectible items produced by Tiffany Studios are stained glass lamps. They are beautiful examples of his work and genuine Tiffany lamps sell for a great deal of money nowadays. Tiffany began producing lamps in the 1980’s and they were very popular until about 1920 when they went out of favor with the wealthier classes who considered them old fashioned. In the 1960’s they came back into favor as Art Noveau movement increased in popularity. Christie’s sold a genuine Tiffany lamp in 1997 for $2.8 million!

A genuine Tiffany lamp will sell for anywhere between $10,000 and hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on both the quality and the size. A Tiffany apple blossom lamp was sold for $136,000 and dragonfly lamp for $185,000.

Popular Tiffany lamps include the dragonfly, wisteria and peony designs which all sell for over a hundred thousand dollars. Lamps with other designs, geometric patters and flowers and vines are less popular but still command a hefty price at auction. There are, of course, many fakes as a signature is easily copied. To ensure you only buy a genuine Tiffany lamp always buy from a reputable auction establishment.

Sotherby’s of New York will be offering for sale ‘Important Tiffany’ featuring 40 lots of excellent examples of leaded glass lamps, bronze objects and favrile vases. The exhibition will be open for viewing from December 13th

The sale includes pieces from the collection of John Fowler and features a Pebble table lamp from 1900-1902 which has pebble decoration and a rare ‘Pumpkin’ base. This particular design was introduced in the late 1890′2 by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company and has a shade made from bands of flowerheads with chiseled glass centers. The attention to detail is outstanding and the lamp was probably introduced when the firm initially started developing the market for glass lampshades. A further offering is a ‘Tulip’ table lamp from 1905 with six favrile candles and a rare ‘Empire’ base.

An Example of a Peacock Vase

Other offerings in the sale include a selection of favrile vases including a ‘peacock’ vase from 1895 which was produced early in Tiffany’s glass production period. There is also a favrile fireplace surround and a ‘Fish Scale’ floor lamp from 1910 with elaborate favrile mosaic base.

The Cleveland Museum of Art will hold an exhibit in January 2009 entitled Artistic Luxury and featuring the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany,Peter Carl Faberge and Rene Lalique. It will feature exhibits already in the museum and loans from private and public collections worldwide.

This will be the very first comparative study of these three great designers of the twentieth century and will open on January 18th. The curator of decorative arts and design is Stephen Harrison who brings over three hundred objects together from over fifty lenders including His Serene Highness Prince Albert of Monaco and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Other institutions lending objects include private lenders and public institutions from London, Paris, Lisbon, Berlin, Hamburg and well as from the United States. The three designers works were last seen together at the 1900 World’s Fair, held in Paris, where their rivalry was as much an attraction as their designs.

Some of the objects to be exhibited include the Magnolia Window from the Tiffany studios. This window was purchased for the collection of Baron Stieglitz in St Petersburg and has been exhibited recently in Russia. There is also a large collection of Tiffany stained glass, lamps and glass lamp shades. Jewelry featuring rare gemstones and diamonds by the Tiffany company and the Adam’s Vase, now in the New York Metropolitan Museum, but a star exhibit at the World’s Fair in 1900 will also be shown.

Example of a Tiffany Window

In a lecture by Franklin Perrell entitled “Tiffany and the Gilded Age” given at the Garden City Historical Society he revealed the identity of a stained glass window in the chapel at St Peter’s School, Garden City is indeed a Tiffany. The window is documented in the catalogue of the Tiffany studios as being sold and installed at the school. A window was also installed at the St Mary’s school but the window was destroyed when the school was demolished to make way for housing.

The building was bought by the Garden City village but sadly the windows along with the buildings have been allowed to deteriorate significantly. Villagers felt that the windows, most of which were manufactured by Clayton and Bell were valueless and were not willing to remove the windows or preserve them. The Tiffany window was in good condition when photographed in 2004 although the NY Times, in 2004, noted that “closer inspection of the chapel quickly reveals evidence of years of disuse…. The pipe organ is covered in dust, and the lead in one of the stained-glass windows has started to peel away from the glass.”

Village trustees are in disagreement over issues of preserving the building, both with each other and with outsiders who want to see the building and windows preserved. The village is also trying to overcome a New York State law that requires public use of the building. A vote in early December is scheduled to canvass public opinion in the village to decide whether to demolish the building or allowing it to be developed.

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Original Tiffany stained glass lamps are beautiful examples of craftsmanship and skill and are much sought after by collectors. These days a genuine Tiffany lamp will come with a high price tag.

Born in 1848, Louis Comfort Tiffany started his artistic life as an artist but grew fascinated with glass making and opened his own glass making studio in the 1890’s. He began producing the lamps that he is now famous for later in the 1890’s. They were extremely popular until the 1920’s when the wealthy classes began to consider them old fashioned. They remained unpopular until the 1960’s when a resurgence of the Art Nouveau movement brought them back into favor. During the years from 1989 to 1990 they were again collected and in 1997 Christie’s sold a Tiffany lamp for $2.8 million. Most genuine Tiffany lamps now sell for $10,000 to hundreds of thousands, depending on the size and quality of the lamp. Chrisite’s have also sold A Tiffany dragonfly table lamp for $185,000 and a Tiffany lamp with an apple blossom design for $136,000.

The most popular Tiffany lamps are the Dragonfly, Wisteria and Peony designs and these sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars! Less popular Tiffany lamps are decorated with geometric designs or flowers and vines. As genuine Tiffany lamps are so collectible there are many fakes around. A signature can be easily faked so collectors should ensure that they are buying from a reputable auction house.

Article brought to you by Best Meyda Tiffany Lamps and Chandeliers

Tiffany developed a stained glass technique which incorporated the color in the glass as opposed to the prevailing practice of painting clear glass. He developed a wide range of products based on his stained glass including Tiffany stained glass windows and Tiffany lamps. Some of the types of Tiffany stained glass are described here.

Favrile Glass

Favrile glass was patented in 1880.The name comes from an old French word for handmade. Favrile glass has an iridescence that makes the surface of the glass shimmer and also gives some opacity to the glass. It is manufactured by mixing together, while hot, different colored glasses.

Opalescent Glass

Opalescent glass is a glass with more than one color present. The colored glasses are fused together while hot. It is the base for all the Tiffany products.

Streamer Glass

This type of textured glass has a pattern of strings fixed to its surface. These patterns were used by Tiffany to represent grass, twigs etc. This type of glass is made by picking up the glass using a pontile which is then swung from side to side to stretch the glass into long thin strings. The strings are then pressed onto the surface of molten sheet glass.

Fracture Glass

This type of glass has a pattern of irregularly shaped glass wafers attached to the surface. Fracture glass was used by Tiffany to represent foliage viewed at a distance. The glass wafers are made by blowing a bubble of molten glass until the bubble walls stretch, cool and then harden. The glass bubble with very thin walls is then shattered into shards that are then attached to the surface of molten glass where they become fused.

Ripple Glass

Ripple glass has a texture of surface waves. This type of glass was used by Tiffany to represent leaf veins or water. It is created by taking a sheet of glass and spinning it with a roller that spins faster than it moves forward. This gives a ripple effect to the glass when it cools.

Ring Mottle Glass

Invented by Tiffany in the early years of the 20th century ring mottle glass is distinguished by mottles made by heat treating the glass in various places. Tiffany’s style used many different motifs of mottles and had very little painted detail effects.

Drapery glass

As the name suggests, drapery glass is glass that is folded to mimic the effect of folded cloth. It was used by Tiffany in stained glass church windows for a 3D effect on angel’s wings and flowing robes.

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Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) is well known for his work in stained glass. He was an American artist and is associated with the Aesthetic and Art Nouveau movements. He used stained glass in many different applications including windows, lamps, jewelry, metalwork and enamels. He was associated with the Associated Artists, a prestigious society of artists which included Candace Wheeler, Samuel Colman and Lockwood de Forest.

His father, Charles Lewis Tiffany was the founder of the Tiffany company He began his artistic career as a painter but became interested in glassmaking in about 1875 and worked in glass making factories until about 1878. He founded the first Tiffany Glass Company in 1885 which was renamed as the Tiffany Studios in 1902.

At first he used bottles and jelly jars which were cheap but had impurities lacking in finer glass. Failing to persuade the fine glass makers to leave in the impurities he began to make his own glass. He used opalescent glass in different textures and colors to make his own unique stained glass designs. Previously stained glass was made by painting clear glass with enamels or glass paints.
Tiffany built a new factory in 1893, the Stourbridge Glass Company, to produce his stained glass. He first produced blown glass in 1893 and exhibited his lamps at the World’s Fair in Chicago the same year.
He called his glass, pottery or enamel products Favrile, from a French word for handmade, and trademarked this term in 1894. The company produced lamps from 1895 as well as stained glass and a range of other interior decoration. At its peak the company employed over 300 artisans.

The most comprehensive collection of Tiffany’s work is now housed at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Florida. The collection includes Tiffany lamps, paintings, leaded glass windows, jewelry, pottery, art glass and more. It also exhibits the interior of the chapel Tiffany designed for World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 held in Chicago. There are also glass panels from his home, Laurelton Hall.

His family company, The Tiffany Company, sold products produced by his studio and he became the Artistic Director of the company after his father’s death in 1902. Tiffany Studio continued in business until 1932.

Louis Tiffany died in January 1933