52nd Annual Delaware Show

A TALE OF TWO TIFFANYS BY CATHARINE DANN ROEBER & MAGGIE LIDZ Glimmering glass and glittering gems dazzle visitors this fall and winter at Winterthur. Two complementary exhibits, Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light and Tiffany: The Color of Luxury, celebrate the beauty and popularity of objects made and sold by Tiffany Studios and Tiffany &Company. Both firms are recognized as leaders in the luxury goods market. Through the ingenuity, artistry, and keen business sense of family members and their associates, the Tiffany name has carried with it a legacy of quality that remains intact today. The Tiffany story begins with Charles Lewis Tiffany (1812–1902), who, with several partners, set up a stationery and gift store in New York in 1837. By the early 1850s, the flourishing enterprise, renamed Tiffany & Company, had branches in Paris and London. Charles’s son Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933) trained as a painter but became interested in glassmaking by 1875. Although he had an independent career as an artist and craftsman with his own company, Tiffany Studios (fig. 1) , Louis was also associated with his father’s firm and was made design director of Tiffany & Co. in 1902. The Winterthur exhibits explore the careers of both men as well as the diverse products designed and retailed by their companies. Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light, organized by The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass in New York City and curated by Lindsy Parrott, includes iconic and celebrated glass objects that highlight the rich and varied palette used by the artists at Tiffany Studios. The larger of the two exhibits, Tiffany Glass features key figures Fig. 1. The Art Work of Louis C. Tiffany (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1914). This personal copy belonging to Louis C. Tiffany is now owned by Winterthur Library. — 99 —