A treasure trove of Louis Comfort Tiffany masterpieces is going on its first-ever tour. Sixty pieces that have never before travelled outside of the Richard H. Driehaus Museum in Chicago form a new exhibit titled "Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection," which will remain on display through May 27, 2018 at the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati. This exhibition will be followed by a national tour of eight U.S. venues through 2021. At its conclusion, the works will return to the Driehaus Museum.
Tiffany (1848-1933) is one of America’s most prominent artists who experimented with a vast amount of mediums, ranging from glass and mosaics to pottery, from individual works to interior design. In the Summer 2017 edition of Glass (Issue #147), Corning curator Kelly A. Conway wrote an article titled “Assembled Multitudes” that discusses Tiffany’s lesser-known mosaics made from tens of thousands of glass elements. Conway writes of how amazed she is by the fact that there is always something to learn “about Tiffany’s artistic empire and innovations in glass.”
The son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, the founder of Tiffany & Company, Tiffany chose to follow his artistic dreams. He began his career as a painter with American and European influences. In the early 1890s, Tiffany turned his focus to glass art and built a glasshouse in Queens. There, he honed his glass skills and developed a method known as Favrile, which is characterized by its varied shapes, texture, and rainbow incandescence. His pieces often depicted nature and organic scenes, which was the hallmark of the Art Nouveau movement of the period. Not only is Tiffany known for developing this method, but his stained-glass windows are renowned. He created them by infusing glass with color rather than the traditional method of painting over the glass.
The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, one of the smallest fine art museum in the country, houses one of the most significant Tiffany collections. Spanning over decades, the financier Richard Driehaus obtained more than 1,500 of Tiffany’s works. "Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection" consists of 16 stained-glass lamps, 24 blown-glass vases, seven leaded-glass windows, and numerous decorative objects that include candlesticks and inkwells, among other pieces. The exhibition is toured by International Art & Artists in Washington D.C. and curated by David A. Hanks. It is also accompanied by a collection of essays by Driehaus and Hanks, as well as photography by John Faier.
Lynne D. Ambrosini, Deputy Director and the Sallie Robinson Wadsworth Chief Curator at Taft Museum of Art, says of the exhibit: “We are thrilled to welcome this remarkable collection of decorative arts… It will provide all lovers of color with an utterly swoon-worthy experience.”
IF YOU GO:
Louis Comfort Tiffany
“Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection”
February 17, 2018 - May 27, 2018
The Taft Museum of Art
316 Pike Street
Cincinnati, Ohio
Tel: 513.241.0343
Website: http://www.taftmuseum.org/