TIFFANY GLASS: A RIOT OF COLOR

April 18, 2009 - July 12, 2009

Tiffany Glass: “A Riot of Color” is the only exhibition in Hampton Roads 2009 Art of Glass festival that will be devoted to the Art Nouveau glass of Tiffany.

The Muscarelle Museum of Art presents Tiffany Glass: “A Riot of Color,” an exhibition of the finest Tiffany glass on view from April 18, 2009 to July 12, 2009. The exhibition celebrates the ten-year anniversary of the “Art of Glass” in a program organized by the Chrysler Museum and the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia in conjunction with the Virginia Arts Festival. While most of the participating institutions will display contemporary glass, the Muscarelle will be the sole venue devoted entirely to the stunning Art Nouveau glass of Tiffany from the period around 1900.

In 1913, Louis Comfort Tiffany threw an Egyptian-themed party at his Madison Avenue studio. A New York Times journalist described the event as a feast, “held in a riot of color.” Although this description refers to the elaborate costumes and entertainment, it is just as applicable to Tiffany’s iridescent glass– a feast for the eyes.

Tiffany Glass: “A Riot of Color” showcases highlights from the career of Louis Comfort Tiffany, whose extraordinary interior designs made him the first word in taste and sophistication in Gilded Age New York. Stained glass windows, glass-tiled fireplaces and blown-glass light fixtures were mainstays of Tiffany interiors. The exhibition will include an array of brilliant, jewel-like glass lamps, glass tiles, blown glass, and a stained glass window that together will illustrate the styles, themes and techniques with which the Tiffany studios experimented during the height of the Art Nouveau period.