Tiffany "Peony Border" Floor Lamp

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) was one of the most influential artists and designers of the twentieth century. He largely bypassed a career with his father's famous jewelry firm, Tiffany & Co., and took up painting, studying with George Inness, later discovering his true love, that of colored glass. He pioneered research into the fabrication of iridescent, translucent, and colored glasses with textured surfaces, which created dramatic light effects. He was further influenced by artist John La Farge (1835-1910), who was also researching glass production in the 1870s; due to their intense competition, however, their friendship did not last. The AMAM has a magnificent watercolor and gouache by La Farge, Ford at the Upper End of the Vai-Te-Piha ( Tautira River), Tahiti, of 1891, which seems itself to shimmer with the translucent colors of stained glass.

Thomas Edison, who had been experimenting with electricity since the 1860s, encouraged Tiffany to explore the production of electric lamps, and most of them were made between 1895 and 1920. The magnificent floor lamp with floral stained-glass shade in the AMAM collection was a fortunate acquisition-it was purchased at an auction at the American Legion Hall in Elyria, Ohio, from the estate of a local resident, for under $100.00 in 1963.

Among the more than fifteen Tiffany pieces in the collection is also a delicate vase with a pineapple-shaped base (some describe similar bases as pinecone- or artichoke-shaped). The favrile-Tiffany's word, based on the old English usage for "handmade"-iridescent glass is decorated in a "pulled-feather" design, and its soaring trumpet shape gives it a sense of lightness and delicacy. It was a gift to the AMAM from Oberlin alumnus and Emeritus Professor Paul Arnold (OC 1940) and his wife, Sally (OC 1941). Arnold, a distinguished artist, is represented by both prints and drawings in the AMAM collection. The drawings are five watercolor and gouache works depicting the interior of the Cass Gilbert building, made while he was a student during 1939-40.