This week I thought I’d switch things up by talking about another artists’ work, the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Artists must go out into the world to look at the work of other artists. Not only to stay current with what’s new in the art world, but to see the work that has come before us.
I recently visited The Morse Museum in Winter Park, Florida and I can’t wait to share pictures and information about the art of Louis Comfort Tiffany. It’s an amazing museum that houses the world’s largest collection of Tiffany lamps, vases, glass pieces, paintings, furniture and jewelry.
Louis Comfort Tiffany today is most famous for his vastly popular creations in glass, and yet his artistic vision left few mediums untouched. Tiffany was a painter, a decorator, an architect, a photographer, and a designer of pottery, furniture, enamels, and jewelry in addition to glass lamps, windows, mosaics, and vases. So many mediums and areas of interest that you could consider him a true “Renaissance” man, a person with many talents or areas of knowledge.
Nature was his muse, color his obsession, and exotic culture his bottomless well of influence. The teams of talented designers and craftspeople under Tiffany’s watch translated his all-encompassing vision into some of the most beautiful objects of his and our own time. Later in his life, Tiffany elegantly summed up his long and prolific career as a “Quest of Beauty.”
Let’s start at the very beginning. Tiffany was born in 1848 shortly after his father, Charles Tiffany, founded a modest venture in New York that grew to become the most prestigious silver and jewelry company in America — Tiffany & Co. Demonstrating early artistic promise, Tiffany as a teenager won an award for proficiency in drawing at his boarding school. The young Tiffany went on to study art in Paris, and teachers there helped seed an enduring fascination with the art and design of Eastern and Islamic countries.
Next time, I’ll continue with more information on Tiffany’s formative and adult years, and how the stage was set for his thriving and lucrative career in home furnishings and beautiful objects of art that are still highly praised and sought after today.
TIP OF THE WEEK:
Try making a drawing or painting in the style of Tiffany.
Use one of the pictures below as inspiration or go online to find many more examples of his artwork. Explore his beautiful colors, iridescent glass, and compositions and let loose and have fun.
Be well,
Eileen 🙂
(20+) Eileen Marquez | Facebook
