| What do you collect? | Clothing + Fashion | Jewelry + Watches | Pottery + Glass | Furniture + Home | Art + Photos | Music + Movies | Toys + Games | Sports | Coins + Stamps | Paper + Books | Ads + Signs | Autos + Transport | Eras + Decades | All » |
When we think of American Art Nouveau art glass, the objects that first spring to mind are probably the leaded lamp shades and iridescent vases of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933). The son of the famous jewelry designer, Tiffany studied painting with the great landscape painter George Inness; later, in Paris, he learned art glass techniques from the French master Emile Galle. These experiences informed Tiffany’s work at the Tiffany Glass Co., which he established in 1885 to produce leaded-glass doors and windows for private homes and churches alike.
Another influence on Tiffany was ancient Greek and Roman glass, both the finishes and forms. With an eye to expanding his business to pursue blown-glass objects that would emulate these classic designs, Tiffany renamed his firm the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company in 1892 (later renamed Tiffany Studios in 1902)...
Despite his work’s naturalistic imagery, Tiffany was a technological innovator. Perhaps because he was a designer rather than an artisan, he worked and collaborated with some of the best thinkers, inventors, and craftsmen of his day. For his glass studio, Tiffany hired British chemist Arthur J. Nash, who remained with the firm until 1919; his son took it over in 1928.
The advent of electricity was also of keen interest to Tiffany. For an 1885 commission of sconces for the Lyceum Theatre in New York, Tiffany worked with Thomas A. Edison, who installed some of the electrical lighting himself. By 1906, Tiffany Studios was selling more than 400 models of electric and oil lamps and hanging shades.
Throughout, blown glass remained a preoccupation for Tiffany — it was, after all, why he had brought Nash to the firm in the first place. In order to have as much control on the process as possible, in 1893 Tiffany installed glass-blowing furnaces at his studio. A year later, with the help of Nash’s glass recipes, which Nash reportedly never revealed even to Tiffany, the Favrile brand was born.
Favrile glass was prized then, and is still admired today, for its eye-catching iridescent surfaces. The Favrile line included classic forms harking back to Tiffany’s fondness for all things ancient, as well as for new inventions like the paperweight vases, which are technical marvels that remain difficult for contemporary artists and artisans to duplicate to this day.
The paperweight vases are thick, making them a challenge to keep balanced on the end of a blow pipe, with a layer of decoration (usually flowers created from millefiori) sandwiched between clear layers of aqua-colored glass. A signed piece with no chips can bring tens of thousands of dollars at auction.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Tiffany’s love for leaded-glass windows and electrical lamps combined into a series of lamp shades on bronze bases. Despite being made of hard materials, the lamp shades seem to drip and drape over their light sources, in dense organic patterns resembling wisteria, apple blossoms, and other plants and trees.
After Tiffany’s death, his studios continued to produce stained glass windows for churches, but within a few years, as the Depression deepened, the studio closed (Tiffany never jumped on the Art Deco bandwagon). Today, Tiffany glass remains among the world’s most collected types of art glass, which has also made it a favorite of everyone from forgers to legitimate art-glass studios, many of whom have made names for themselves by producing historically accurate pieces in the 'Tiffany style.'
Key terms for Tiffany Art Glass:
Favrile: A technique for producing iridescent glass, patented by Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1894, in which metallic and chemical compounds are applied to molten glass. Iridescence is achieved when air to the furnace is reduced, a process known as reduction, leaving only the metallic part of the compound on the surface of the glass.
Millefiori: An ancient glass technique, popularized in the 19th century, in which rods of fused glass are cut into cross sections to reveal patterns, frequently resembling flowers.

Art Nouveau was a huge movement. It wasn’t only about architecture; it touched every artistic discipline. It dealt … [more]

Loetz was a Bohemian company. It was a factory; and the region’s biggest and best glass manufacturer. There were ot… [more]

In 1998, while going through my parents' estate, my wife and I found some glassware made by Anchor Hocking between … [more]

I started becoming interested in art glass when I moved from Texas to New York, and wanted to decorate my apartment… [more]

An overview by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts of the design movements between 1880 and 1940 that comprised Moder… [read review or visit site]

This fabulous site is a guide to Bohemian art glass makers from 1885 to 1920. Loetz was the premier Bohemian glass … [read review or visit site]

This beautiful and easy-to-navigate website on Blenko art glass includes a detailed history on the company, informa… [read review or visit site]

Chris and Val Stewart’s impressive attempt to create a complete catalogue of all known cloud glass, a decorative … [read review or visit site]

This website, home of the Antique and Art Glass Salt Shaker Collector's Society, offers a beautiful photo gallery s… [read review or visit site]

Frank Andrew’s beautiful and definitive reference guide to art glass produced in Scotland by the Spanish Ysart fa… [read review or visit site]

Michael and Lori Palmer's site dedicated to the hand painted decorations of Abels, Wasserberg and Company, known as… [read review or visit site]
Got a site to suggest? Let us know.
Are we missing one? Tell us.
Source: Google News
Featured will be Daum Nancy, primitives, art glass, RS Prussia, lithographs, marbles, lamps, Royal Bayreuth, Flow Blue, Wave Crest, advertising items and...Read more
1526J, and the one-of-a-kind $35k 'Red Tiffany' will be auctioned in New York Sotheby's sale of Important Watches, Clocks and Automata will be held on 20...Read more
The three sales were: Important 20th Century Decorative Art & Design, Magnificent Tiffany Featuring The Gluck Collection and Historical Design Reflects: The...Read more
Kittrell/Riffkind Art Glass, 5100 Belt Line Road, Suite 820, presents new works in glass from Jonathan Fischbach, Dinah Ihle, Michael Nouro and Jennifer...Read more
From left: Tiffany Ortiz, Esta Epstein, and Tea Leoni attended the UNICEF event at the Hampshire House. (Roger Farrington) By Mark Shanahan & Meredith...Read more
Despite the dazzle of her gossamer silver gown, her Veronica Lake hair and that blaze of Tiffany diamonds at her perfect throat, something was clearly amiss...Read more
You've heard of “Tiffany glass.” Well, the world's most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany can be found in Orlando's Charles Hosmer...Read more
Featured is a Tiffany table lamp, bronze with green damascene shades estimated at $12000 to $15000; a floriform Tiffany art glass vase, hand wrought and...Read more