Art Nouveau Autumn at the Allentown Art Museum

Written by Bart Cleveland Sunday, 05 June 2011 21:20

Allentown, PA - “Tiffany by Design,” an exhibition made by Tiffany Studios from the permanent collection of The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, Long Island City, New York, will occupy the Allentown Art Museum’s Kress Gallery this autumn, from October 7, 2007, through January 6, 2008. The show explores the construction, fabrication, and design of representative works produced between 1900 and 1925 under the direction of Louis Comfort Tiffany. As a complement to “Tiffany by Design,” the Museum is also presenting a special loan exhibition, “Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau Extraordinaire.” This show highlights the dramatic posters designed by Tiffany’s Moravian-born contemporary, along with other designs that helped to define the Art Nouveau aesthetic.

“Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau Extraordinaire”

Moravian-born Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) made his artistic pilgrimage to Paris in 1887. He first gained fame in 1894, when he created a poster for the celebrated actress Sarah Bernhardt, and its success forged a collaboration with the actress that lasted six years. His skill as a draughtsman and decorative designer brought him commissions for a wide range of graphic projects. His sensuous, interlocking contours that are synonymous today with the Art Nouveau style caressed and merged female and floral forms in a fresh, compelling way, and his commercial designs ultimately sold everything from books, magazines, and theatre productions to champagne, chocolate, and postage stamps. Mucha’s new and stunning approach to design took Paris, Europe, and America by storm.

Sarah Bernhardt was herself a sculptor and painter, which simultaneously heightened her fame and made people suspicious of her manifold talents. Bernhardt’s larger-than-life persona and her extraordinary success as actor and entrepreneur established the template for Hollywood icons as we know them. She was an inspiration for such figures as Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Nicole Kidman, and the contemporary stand-up comic, Sandra Bernhard, among others.

“Alphonse Mucha,” especially created to complement “Tiffany by Design,” will feature a selection of the artist’s posters, one of his textile designs, and several other Art Nouveau textiles, some from the Museum’s collection, all representing the spirit of the period. Lenders to the exhibition include Jack Rennert of Posters Please, Inc., and Cora Ginsburg LLC, both based in New York City. Starr Siegele, the Museum’s adjunct curator of prints, and Dr. Jacqueline Atkins, The Kate Fowler Merle-Smith Curator of Textiles, are co-curators. Contributing support for “Alphonse Mucha” is provided by The Leon C. and June W. Holt Endowment. Sustaining support is provided by The Audrey and Bernard Berman Endowment Fund.

“Tiffany by Design”

Louis Comfort Tiffany opened his furnaces in Corona, Queens, in 1892 to make his own opalescent glass, which he marketed under the trademarked name “Favrile.” He capitalized on the increasing availability of electricity in the development of artificially illuminated glass lampshades. The opalescent character of the glass diffused the light, and the method of constructing the shades was derived from techniques used in making leaded-glass windows.

Tiffany Studios produced thousands of lamps in hundreds of designs, although many of the designs were closely related. Examining the ways in which the forms, patterns, and motifs were changed and adapted from object to object illuminates the design vocabulary of Tiffany Studios. The wide range of possibilities becomes evident with a comparison of a single design in different color schemes or a single motif in different shapes and sizes.

“The Tiffany exhibition dovetails perfectly with the Allentown Art Museum’s collecting focus on decorative arts dating to 1875-1925, which includes a growing collection of Tiffany glass and silver objects that will be on concurrent view in the permanent collection galleries,” said site curator Dr. Lee A. Vedder, the Museum’s director of collections and exhibitions.

“Tiffany by Design” is organized in five sections, each of which focuses on a specific aspect of Tiffany lamps. Section One, “The Making of a Tiffany Lamp,” examines the materials and fabrication techniques of a leaded-glass shade. The second section, “Pattern and Complexity,” illustrates the range of Tiffany shades, which included blown and pressed glass, as well as geometric and floral designs. Section Three, “The Parts of a Tiffany Lamp,” displays the various components that make up a Tiffany lamp including bases, finials, hanging hardware components, and examples of shades and bases designed as a pair. The fourth section, “Variations of Design,” highlights the way a single motif was applied to different forms. It also illustrates the impact of glass selection, which can make two shades of the same design appear quite different. Through a comparison of authentic Tiffany lamps with forgeries and reproductions, the final section, “Fakes, Replicas, and Reproductions,” addresses questions of quality and authenticity."

“Tiffany by Design” was organized by The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, Long Island City, New York. The exhibition’s curator is Nina Gray, former associate curator of decorative arts at the New-York Historical Society and presently an independent scholar whose work focuses on late 19th- and early 20th-century American decorative arts.

For information and directions: Little more than 90 minutes west of Manhattan and one hour north of Philadelphia, the Allentown Art Museum is located at 31 North 5th Street in Allentown, PA. Please visit our website at www.allentownartmuseum.org, or call 610-432-4333, ext. 10, to learn more about the Museum’s exhibitions and programs.