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Louis Comfort Tiffany (1838 - 1933)
Louis Comfort Tiffany is the originator of Tiffany lamps. His farther, Charles Lewis Tiffany, was the founder of the most prestigious silver and jewellery company in America . Tiffany & Co.
He was the oldest child of Charles L. Tiffany, but didn't follow in his farther footsteps in taking the reins of his father's jewellery business. he instead, followed his heart and became a talented artist and designer. Louis became one of the most creative and prolific designer of the late 19 th century - he was the only American member of a small international circle of leading artists/designers of the period around 1893.
Louis C. Tiffany was born into great wealth. he was surrounded by great beauty his entire life. He declared that his life-long goal was "the pursuit of beauty"
Tiffany's First Artistic Training
Louis underwent his first artistic training as a painter in New York City and Paris . It was back in the 1870s when he first became interested in glassmaking, when he was about 24. This was when he started studying the chemistry and techniques of glassmaking.
Louis's sense of adventure and innovation led him to experiment with new and unique ways of obtaining his dreams. It was his innovation that led him to develop new glass production techniques as well as his development of the copper-foil method of stained glass construction. It is this copper-foil method that's commonly referred to as the Tiffany method.
Here's a quote that gives you a glimpse of the inside of Louis's mind.
"True art is ever progressive and impatient of fixed rules.
Because a thing has always been done in a certain way
is no reason why it should never be done in any other."
-Louis Comfort Tiffany-
Decorating The White House
Louis had a love of beautiful things, such as fine are and the magnificent stained glass windows of European cathedrals. An example of these beautiful cathedrals is the 14th-century Gothic cathedral at Chartres in Paris . Louis's wanted American homeowners to have beautiful possessions in their homes, which lead him to goal of his. to make the beauty of stained glass in American homes.
In 1879 he became a partner in the firm Louis C. Tiffany and Associated artists. He was with this firm for 4 years and during this time he provided a decoration service and had clients such as Mark Twain in Hartford, Connecticut, and even decorated the white house with his innovative interior decorative style for President Chester Arthur.
It was during his time at Louis C. Tiffany and Associated artist that he registered a patent for opalescent window glass.
A New Innovative Method Of Stain Glass Lamp Making
In the middle ages, glass artisans created stained glass in a completely different way to Louis patented, innovative way . When they created stained glass windows, they'd create intricate sections of the windows using clear class as a base. Special paint was the applied to the clear glass to add the detailed design elements of the stained glass window. This painted glass was then paced in a kiln or furnace, which caused the paint to fuse to the glass surface. These painted fired glass pieces were then assembled using lead came, which is channeled pieces of leading.
Louis patent for stained glass was dramatically different to the method used in the middle ages. He combined several colors of glass and manipulated them to create an extraordinary range of hues and three-dimensional effects. This method was a far more elegant way of making stained glass lamps because he was able to define the objects using the glass as opposed to painting the objects on to the glass.
This method allowed Louis to create stained glass lamps of great beauty and character. With rich vibrant colors and made the objects on his lamps have a three-dimensional texture.
Tiffany's Copper-Foil Methods
In 1885 Louis founded his own glassmaking firm. He used opalescent glass in a range of colors and textures to create a unique style of stained glass.
Louis wasn't satisfied with this technique; his fetish for beauty, for the beauty of his specialized glass drove him to develop a new method for making stained glass. For him to achieve the level of detail he wanted in his lamps, to make them as beautiful as he envisioned them in his mind, he developed a method of assembling the glass pieces. some glass pieces that were barely 1/4-inch in width. He didn't want to use heavy lead came - as he believed this would interrupt his vision of flowing, intricate, elegant lines.
So, his new method of putting together a stained glass lamp was to wrap each individual piece of glass with hand-cut strips of copper foil. Glue was applied to the foil, which was made from linseed oil and beeswax. The foil-wrapped glass pieces were then arranged into the lamps shade pattern and soldered together.
The results of Louis C. Tiffany's innovation was absolutely breathtaking. This resulted in homes of upper-class Americans in the early twentieth century being adorn with Tiffany windows.
The Best Tiffany Lamp Ever Produced
The best lamp Louis ever produced using his copper-foil method, to show the beautiful elegant, powerfully colorful lamp can be seen in Tiffany Studios best creation of the Wisteria Lamp. This lamp is made up of more than 1,000 pieces of glass!
An example of Tiffany's Wisteria Lighting (Meyda Tiffany Reproduction)
It was 1899 when Louis introduced his lamps to the public for sale.
Louis died on February 13 th 1953. his remarkable career as an artist spanned over 50 years, during this time he had many companies - L.C. Tiffany and Associated Artist. The Tiffany Glass Company. Tiffany Studios. Tiffany Furnaces and the L.C Tiffany Furnaces.
