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Tiffany Treasures

Davenport’s Figge Art Museum recently opened a new exhibit: Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Museum.

The show is a “lavish overview of Tiffany’s mastery of color and form in a wide range of materials and decorative styles.”

The Figge’s exhibit showcases 62 exemplary works of Tiffany’s, including small blown glass vases to stained-glass windows and a “spectacular selection of lamps.” The works are drawn from the collection of the Richard H. Driehaus Museum in Chicago. The exhibit is on view now until May 19, 2019.

Credit Photograph by John Faier. © 2013 The Richard H. Driehaus Museum
Tiffany Studios, Miniature Vases, detail, 1898–1900, blown glass

Arlie Sulka, owner of the New York gallery, Lillian Nassau LLC, will visit the Figge on Thursday, March 28, 2019 at 6:30 p.m. to talk about her specialization in the artwork of Louis Comfort Tiffany and Tiffany Studios.

Louis Comfort Tiffany was one of America’s most renowned artists in the 19th and 20th centuries, making significant contributions to the art of glassmaking. He began as a painter and eventually established his own glassmaking firm in Queens, New York. Known as “Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company,” the firm produced “Favrile,” a term the artist patented on his own. Favrile means “handmade” and describes the “iridescent blown art glass” that he produced.

Credit Photograph by John Faier. © 2013 The Richard H. Driehaus Museum
Tiffany Studios, Jack-in-the-Pulpit Vase, 1907–1910, blown glass

Tiffany’s success took place at the same time as the emergence of the Aesthetic Movement in America. This movement was considered controversial by many because Aesthetic art was a “simple expression of mood” or “something merely beautiful to look at” rather than telling a story or providing a moral message.

The Figge Art Museum’s Director of Collections and Exhibitions, Andrew Wallace, shares details about the new exhibit. Listen below to hear more.

Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection was organized by the Richard H. Driehaus Museum and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.

For more information on the Figge’s exhibit, please visit https://figgeartmuseum.org/art/exhibitions/view/louis-comfort-tiffany-treasures-from-the-driehaus-collection/19.

For more information on the Driehaus Museum, please visit http://driehausmuseum.org/.

Jacqueline Halbloom is a Sr. Music Producer and Classical Music Host