Not in his father's footsteps

By ROBIN CAUDELL
Staff Writer

June 25, 2009 03:22 am

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"Louis Comfort Tiffany: Nature by Design" at the Shelburne Museum is not all about stained glass.

The works of the noted artist and designer include flatware, jewelry and furniture.

"It's a little bit contemporary," said Jean Burks, senior curator who organized the exhibit. "We have the largest surviving suite of Tiffany furniture designed for the Havemeyers' house in New York City."

It was a two-year effort to restore the Oriental-inspired and intricately hand-carved and gilded settee, six side chairs, two armchairs and two tables of Louisine and H.O. Havemeyer, the parents of Electra Havemeyer Webb, the museum's founder.

"That was the justification for doing the show," Burks said. "People will be surprised by the range of Tiffany's work."

His oeuvre included stained-glass windows and lamps, glass mosaics, blown glass, ceramics, enamel, flatware and metalwork. He was the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany and Company, and Harriet Olivia Avery Young.

Inspired by the artisans at his father's company, Tiffany started out as a painter before turning his nature-inspired eye toward the decorative arts.

"He established it as a profession. He is admired for his use of color, light and love of nature. Tiffany was instrumental in reinventing glass for making windows. He perfected the use of opalescent glass," Burks said.

Through his naturalistic-layering technique and asymmetrical leading as part of object design, Tiffany revolutionized stained-glass production and aesthetics.

"Tiffany really branched out because of his love of nature."

MASTER ARTISAN
"Louis Comfort Tiffany: Nature by Design" features more than 50 works on loan from museums and private collections. Many have not been on public display before, including two 1910 stained-glass windows, "Tropical Landscape" and "Well By Fence," on loan from the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass in Queens.

There is no lamp like a Tiffany lamp whether it's a table, hanging or pedestal lamp with peony peacock and or grape motifs. His genius as a colorist and luminist is unparalleled as evidenced in a rare pond-lily globe lamp.

"This is one of only two that were especially commissioned," Burks said. "Not run-of-the-mill things but ordered by somebody. They would have been placed on a newel post on the end of a stairway."

In Burks' estimation, Tiffany's aesthetics approaches American Art Nouveau.

A 56-carat cushion-cut amethyst necklace, on loan from the Natural History Museum, is an exquisite example of Tiffany's mastery of marrying semiprecious stones with innovative metalworking techniques, according to Burks.

"That sort of grabs people a lot. He was doing all these things separate from his father. He approved every design, but he had a lot of women working for him."

Julia Munson was Tiffany's first enamel-jewelry designer, and then his wife. Her tool chest, filled with her jewelry-making tools, is on exhibit at the Shelburne.

"Munson's goddaughter's daughter lives in Charlotte," Burks said. "It's on loan. This has never been seen before."

E-mail Robin Caudell at: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

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