NY exhibit highlights Tiffany's religious objects

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Tiffany Studios, New York.Design attributed to Edward P. Sperry.
Lydia Entertaining Christ and the Apostles (Griffin Memorial Window), before 1910.
Centennial Church, Chicago, IL.
The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, Long Island City, NY.

By ULA ILNYTZKY, Associated Press – 1 hour ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Louis Comfort Tiffany was the quintessential tastemaker of the post-Civil War Gilded Age. His iridescent leaded-glass windows and lamps decorated public buildings and homes of rich and famous clients. But most of his commissions were for America's houses of worship at a time of unprecedented church-building.

"Louis C. Tiffany and the Art of Devotion" at The Museum of Biblical Art in New York City is the first major exhibit to focus exclusively on Tiffany's religious output of elaborate altars, baptismal fonts, mosaics, chandeliers, windows and other liturgical ornamentation. It features 84 objects, including 10 stained-glass windows, three of which are on loan from churches that are still active. The free exhibit runs through Jan. 20.

While most of his commissions were for Protestant churches, synagogues also sought out the master designer for their interiors, most notably New York's stunning Temple Emanu-El, which has a majestic window of the Ten Commandments. The museum has scheduled tours of the temple's monumental May Memorial Window on Dec. 6 and Jan. 9.

During a fertile period of church building — some 4,000 were constructed between 1888 and 1915 — Tiffany Studios positioned itself as the go-to firm for ecclesiastical decorative arts. The firm, which operated from 1880 until Tiffany's death in 1933, was celebrated for its Favrile glass, an opalescent glass with swirls of color variegation and three-dimensional effects that Tiffany patented in 1881.

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http://mobia.org/exhibitions/tiffany_art-of-devotion#slideshow2