Louis Comfort Tiffany - Lamps and Other Glasswork

xpost - wow that is gorgeous. i like the contrast between the marbled bottom and the leadwork peacock feathers. when was this lamp made?

I think that stained glass is simply one of the most transcendent artforms in the history of the world, as it is creating art with light itself. But these days it is the preserve of hippie crafties and weird religious types. Or maybe it always has!

"Coloured Glass Destroys Hatred" - motto of the Bauhaus shortly before being dismantled by the Nazis*.

*Historical reference, not referential of thread being over before it has begun.

x-post, I shall look up, but most of his best work seems to be about 1895-1910 or so.

i love the lotus one in the collector's picture too. what an awesome thing to collect! i will have to look these up tomorrow too.

Yes, the peacock lamp there is 1900-1910.

They have the Wisteria lamp in the shop where I got mine:

http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/media/images/00101-00200/00167/fig3.jpg

There is another one there at the moment which I am trying to identify - red flowers with purple edges around the rim against a golden orange background with a green trim. It cannot be all original as the base is an elephant statue. It looks sort of like both peony and red lotus but I need to look at it closer with the book in hand.

This is peony:

http://www.collectics.com/tiffanylamps_peony2.jpg

This is poppy, which is *gorgeous*

http://www.collectics.com/tiffanylamps_poppy.jpg

A good reference guide:

http://www.collectics.com/tiffany_lamps.html

i too love coloured glass. i work in a federation heritage courthouse which has just been restored, it is full of fantastic old leadlight - not stuff that you'd want in your house, but beautiful just the same. in the 60s someone glassed in one side of one of the main corridors with textured yellow glass... i find i love the light coming through it even more than the leadlight.

do these lamps mostly follow a floral motif? obv not always since the first is a peacock?

Most of them are floral, but there are also geometric motifs (the Venetian ones have a lovely decorative style) and lots and lots of various peacock designs - peacocks were a very common symbol in the arts and crafts era - see Liberty, etc.

It's funny, Tiffany style reproductions used to be so naff in the 70s, those sort of coke bottle style restaurant hanging lamps. I associated them with that for a long time, before moving to upstate NY and seeing so much of his actual work.

There's a shop at the top of the high street which sells them, and has dozens in the window. I cannot walk by without spending about ten minutes just peering in, especially when it is dark.

i bet! that must look so beautiful when it's dark and gloomy on the street. thanks for posting this, i'll enjoy reading about these tomorrow when i'm avoiding work.

Here are some of the geometric ones for you!

Ventian:

http://www.collectics.com/tiffanylamps_venetian.jpg

Zodiac (not the best picture, the green should be much more vivid):

http://www.worldwidestore.com/Meyda35ab.jpg

hmmm. i'm not that excited about the first of those. the light doesn't seem to flow through it so well. although maybe that's the point? to highlight the white and yellow? not sure if i really like its base either. the second is awesome though.

kate one of the best bits of my dayjob = we get to run features on stuff like this

It's so tricky to take good photos of them!

I like the contrast between the highly geometric patterns and then the marbled tortoiseshell trim, I think that's lovely.

But best of all I like the jewel-toned ones - fruitbowl and the lotus series.

x-post but do you get to take them home?!?!?

I am trying to find the church windows in Troy, but I can find only this, from Tennesee or somewhere:

http://k41.pbase.com/g4/59/613259/2/52201666.Tiffanyglass3sm.jpg

wow! that is stunning. the marbling and the pearly aspect adds a whole other dimension.

Yes, that one is lovely, but I had a poster of this one on my wall through much of my childhood and adolescence. (It's in the MMA in NYC, I can remember the first time I saw it.)

http://z.about.com/d/gonyc/1/0/5/F/met_09.JPG

It gives you a sense of the scale, even though you can't really experience the colour in a photograph.

mine is in the met as well, which also has a tiffany exhibit on right now

This site shows you how the glass is layered to produce that quality!

http://www.tiffanywindows.com/tiffanytype/TreesStream.html

Aaaah, makes me wish I was in NYC!

Oh, that Tiffany Windows site is TERRIBLE but it's got some great pictures:

http://www.tiffanywindows.com/images/web/river.jpg

Oh, that exhibit looks so great. I'm going to ignore the scary dead peacock hat, and just look at these:

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/tiffany_laurelton/images/laurelton_33.L.jpg

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/tiffany_laurelton/images/laurelton_32.L.jpg

These are making me just not content with just getting another lamp. My giant windows at the front of the house could do with being giant Tiffany windows!