Louis Comfort Tiffany
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Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 - January 17, 1933) was an American artist who made Art Nouveau pieces in stained glass. He also painted and designed jewelry and furniture.
L. C. Tiffany was born the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of the world-famous Tiffany & Co. His first artistic training was as a painter, studying under George Inness and Samuel Coleman in New York, and Léon Bailly in Paris. At the age of 24 he became interested in glassmaking and in 1885 he founded his own glassmaking firm, where he invented a process for making opalescent glass, which he promoted while most other artists believed clear stained glass to be superior. Both points of view were motivated by the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement that had been founded by William Morris in England. One of Tiffany's opponents in this argument was the rival glassmaker John La Farge (1835–1910).
In 1893 his company introduced a new technique, Favrile, for making hand-blown vases and bowls. Much of his other work was in making glass picture windows, but his company designed a complete range of interior decorations. He used all his skill in the design of his own house, the 84-room Laurelton Hall, in Oyster Bay, Long Island, completed in 1904, and donated to his foundation for art students along with 60 acres (243,000 m²) of land, but destroyed by a fire in 1957.
Among the companies that he founded were L.C. Tiffany & Associated Artists, the Tiffany Glass Company, Tiffany Studios, Tiffany Furnaces, and the L.C. Tiffany Furnaces.
L. C. Tiffany became a member of the Society of American Artists in 1877, the National Academy of Design in 1880, the American Water Color Society, and the Societé des Beaux Arts. In 1900, he became a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He died on January 17, 1933, and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Notable collections of Tiffany glass
Many examples of his work are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This display shows stained glass, glass mosaic murals, desk lights and glass vases, and includes a stained glass frieze of wisteria flowers over a backdrop of hills.
The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, in Winter Park, Florida claims to house the world's most comprehensive collection of Tiffany's works. Many objects are from his mansion, Laurelton Hall; the Morse collection is the largest surviving remnant of those objects.
Another collection of Favrile is held in a museum in the small Northern English town of Accrington. Haworth Art Gallery (http://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/Your_Council/Leisure_Services/HAG/Rooms/Haworth_Art_Gallery.htm) This collection was donated by a locally born man, Josepth Briggs, who left England in 1891, and who worked with L.C. Tiffany on many projects over many years, being Tiffany's works manager amongst other jobs. Briggs' personal collection was donated to the town in 1933.fr:Louis Comfort Tiffany