Stained Glass Artist: Louis Comfort Tiffany

(February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933)

Louis Comfort Tiffany was a decorative artist and best known for his work with stained glass. He was an American artist involved in the “Art Nouveau” and “Aesthetic” movements in the art industry.

Many of his designs included stained glass windows and lamps, glass mosaics, blown glass, metalwork, ceramics, enamels, and jewelry. Although Tiffany started off as a painter, his interest in glass art began in about 1875.

Tiffany worked at several glass houses from 1875 until about 1878. In 1879, he joined Candace Wheeler, Samuel Colman and Lockwood de Forest to form the Louis Comfort Tiffany company and the Association for American Artists.

In 1881, Tiffany did interior design jobs for several people. His most recognized design job came in 1882, when President Chester Alan Arthur requested his design services for the White House. He designed many of the rooms (the East Room, the Blue Room, the Red Room, the State Dining Room, and the Entrance Hall). He designed many features in the White House, and obviously added Tiffany glass to the gaslight fixtures. He also designed the windows and added the opalescent floor-to-ceiling glass screen in the Entrance Hall.

In 1885, the original Tiffany Glass Company split up and Tiffany established his own firm. The Tiffany Glass Company became incorporated and 1902 became known as Tiffany Studios.

Tiffany began making his own glass for his work pieces, as he wanted to use glass with the impurities left in. He used opalescent glass in many different colours and textures; this allowed him to create a unique style of glass works.

This technique was a brilliant comparison to the old form of coloured glass. The old technique to create coloured glass was to use colorless glass and paint on the colors. The First Presbyterian Church building of 1905 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has a unique design to it, as some of it captures Tiffany windows with some use of painted glass.

In 1893, Tiffany invented the term “Favrile” (Old French word for handmade) with the first production of blown glass at his new glass factory. He then trademarked “Favrile” in 1984. Eventually he used this word to label all of his glass, enamel, and pottery.

Recent scholarships suggest that a team of female designers played a big role in the designing of many of the floral patterns on the famous Tiffany lamps we see today.

Louis Comfort Tiffany has played an integral role in the movement of stained glass. He has changed the techniques used and made the art more practical as a whole. Tiffany has set the foundation for the stained glass industry as we know it and astounded us with his talents in the art form.