Above: Fathers of the Church, ca. 1892
Photos by the Corning Museum of Glass

 

Tiffany’s Glass Mosaics

During the more than 30 years of his mosaic production, Tiffany approached mosaics with the same unbridled creativity and glass-making techniques that characterized his work in leaded and blown glass. Using a rich variety of materials, including multicolored opalescent glass and shimmering iridescent glass, accented with three-dimensional glass “jewels,” Tiffany’s innovations established a bold new aesthetic for mosaics and contributed a uniquely American character to the centuries-old art form.

Organized in partnership with The Corning Museum of Glass, Tiffany’s Glass Mosaics featured nearly 50 works dating from the 1890s to the 1920s, from intimately scaled mosaic fancy goods to large-scale mosaic panels composed of thousands of individual pieces of glass. Drawing on The Neustadt’s unparalleled archive of Tiffany glass, the exhibition also included more than 1,000 original examples of colored sheet glass and glass “jewels” made for specific mosaic commissions.

Tiffany's Glass Mosaics also revealed the process of creating a mosaic at Tiffany’s studios via detailed watercolor design drawings, sample panels, and examples of completed works. Visitors gained insight into the labor-intensive processes, including the selection of individual pieces of glass, which played a vital role in the success of the final artwork. A high-definition “Mosaic Theater”—featuring multiple video monitors and new photography by the Corning Museum of Glass—enabled visitors to experience some of Louis C. Tiffany’s most important mosaic commissions virtually “in situ” as never before.

 

 

Accompanying Catalogue

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Tiffany's Glass Mosaics Exhibit by The Neustadt
Two lamps in Tiffany's Glass Mosaics Exhibit by The Neustadt
Fireplace mantles in Tiffany's Glass Mosaics Exhibit by The Neustadt
Glass display in Tiffany's Glass Mosaics Exhibit by The Neustadt
Tiffany glass display mosaic exhibit