of England’s craft revival – Tiffany turned his eye toward decorative work, stating “I believe there is more in it than painting pictures.” He teamed up with Wheeler and fellow Society instructors Samuel Colman and Lockwood de Forest to form “Associated Artists,” a working embodiment of the American Aesthetic movement that rejected the Ruskinesque notion that art must have some utilitarian purpose. beautiful.


It only needed to be In 1881, the team would be hired to decorate the Mark Twain


House interior and to redecorate the state rooms in the White House for President Chester A. Arthur.


Tiffany naturally shifted his focus to commissioned interior design while continuing to experiment with glass-making – but also exhibited oils and watercolors and would continue to paint throughout his life. His new residence and studio in Manhattan became a three-dimensional canvas to showcase his talents as a designer – and would continue to solidify the new course of his artistic career. Tiffany used Moorish chandeliers, Japanese wallpaper, Oriental carpets, East Indian carved woodwork, peacock feathers – and a surprisingly abstract leaded glass window. His eclectic and original style led to a feature in 1883’s Artistic Houses, which purported to show “the Most Beautiful and Celebrated Homes in the United States,” and made him a highly sought-after decorative artist, a profession boosted even further by his father’s many connections.


Artwork here and previous pages - Louis Tiffany.


“Tiffany was not interested in creating discussion… he wanted to wow people with beauty,” said Judith Schaechter, one in an absurdly small group of modern stained-glass expressionists who has etched a place for herself as a respected and collected artist. The list of galleries displaying her work reads like an A-Z catalog of important art venues – including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, and London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.


27 www.artizenmagazine.com


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