Paperweight vase with applied decoration, Tiffany Furnaces, Corona, L.I., N.Y., about 1915. Rockwell Museum of Western Art, bequeathed by Frank and Mary Elizabeth Reifschlager.
:The innovations and artistry of Louis Comfort Tiffany are explored in an exhibition of his blown glass works opening November 1 at The Corning Museum of Glass and running through October 31, 2010. "Tiffany Treasures: Favrile Glass from Special Collections" showcases nearly 60 handwrought pieces designed by Tiffany during one of his most fertile periods of artistic ingenuity, and made at his glasshouse in Corona, N.Y., between 1895 and 1920.
A companion exhibit at the Rakow Research Library, "Tiffany Treasures: Design Drawings by Alice Gouvy and Lillian Palmié," showcases eight recently restored watercolor sketches by two of Tiffany's largely unacknowledged female employees from the enamel department of Tiffany Furnaces. On view through April 30, these recently conserved drawings depict plants and flowers in their natural state, forms that served as inspiration for much of Tiffany's work.
The decorative vases and functional vessels in "Tiffany Treasures" — including floral vases and cameo and Cypriot works — were made with Tiffany's signature Favrile glass, distinguished by its deeply toned, rich colors and often brilliant, iridescent finish. Trademarked in 1894, Favrile glass (the name is derived from the old English "fabrile" meaning "handwrought") quickly became fashionable and inspired many other designers.
Dandelion plant, United States, Alice Gouvy, no date, watercolor on paper. Rakow Research Library.
The pieces are drawn primarily from the A. Douglas Nash and Edythe de Lorenzi collections at Cornell University's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, and from the rarely seen Frank and Mary Elizabeth Reifschlager collection of Tiffany glass donated to the Rockwell Museum in Corning, N.Y., in the early 1990s.
"Tiffany Treasures" also includes a stunning, highly unusual Tiffany Peacock blown-glass lamp. The lamp was donated to the Corning Museum fully shattered, but has now returned to its full glory after a painstaking three-month restoration process by museum conservators.
The museum's campus at 1 Museum Way includes a year-round glassmaking school and the Rakow Research Library. For information, 800-732-6845 or
www.cmog.org
.
