Summer 2017

2017 Antiques & Fine Art 107 broadened the field of color previously available to mosaic artists (Fig. 1). Designs ranged from representational to ornamental, secular to sacred. Tiffany’s approach to mosaic evolved over time, as the firm continually explored the artistic possibilities of colored glass (Fig. 2). Whether large or small, uniform or irregular, patterned or plain, textured or flat, monochrome, multicolored, or metallic; glass that absorbed, reflected, or diffused light; or three-dimensional glass “jewels” that were faceted or smooth—these variations were all exploited to develop a new American aesthetic for a rapidly expanding country. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, an explosion of economic and population growth gave rise to an unprecedented period of new public and private building construction in America. Tiffany’s firm was poised to take advantage of this moment, and glass mosaics were central to many of his most successful interior designs. Tiffany’s clientele were largely self-made industrialists from such growing sectors of the economy as transportation, banking, and above Fig. 1 : Mural, The Dream Garden, Tiffany Studios, 1916. Glass mosaic. Curtis Publishing Company Building (now The Curtis Center & Dream Garden); mural in the collection of Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (2001.15); partial bequest of John W. Merriam; partial purchase with funds provided by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts; partial gift of Bryn Mawr College, The University of the Arts, and The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Image Credit: The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York. right Fig. 2: Variety of iridescent glass used for mosaics, from Tiffany Furnaces, Corona, New York. Image: The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, Queens, New York.