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As an extension of his work in Favrile and stained glass,
Tiffany began to design glass mosaics for interiors. In the promotional
pamphlet Mosaics, issued by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
in 1896, he attributed his inspiration to the dazzling interiors of the
Byzantine churches he had visited as a young man. (In the same publication
potential clients were assured that the medium was practical as well as
decorative because it was impervious to moisture, corrosion, fire, and decay.)
Tiffany's earliest use of mosaic dates to the late 1870s, when he incorporated
glass tiles in colorful patterns into fireplace surrounds. In 1879–80,
in a dramatic display, Tiffany selected almost shocking peacock blue tiles
to frame the mammoth fireplace of the Veterans Room, where they are a gleaming
focal point in the otherwise darkly timed north wall.
Just as Tiffany had increased the color range and created
illusionistic effects through his developments in colored and textured stained
glass, so too did he adapt the new materials and methods to mosaics. Rather
than using traditional flat, solid-color squares, or tesserae, Tiffany took
advantage of his innovative techniques of modeling and shading to produce
a wide range of colors within the glass itself. Lustrous iridescence expanded
the range further and helped convey a shimmering quality to the mosaics
of sky or water. Semitransparent glass backed with metallic foil added the
depth and brilliance of reflected light.
Tiffany likewise expanded the compositional possibilities of this ancient
technique by directing his artists to cut glass into shapes that conformed
to specific elements of his design rather than uniform squares. In this
way they were able to achieve more naturalistic effects, such as in the
Museum's extraordinary Garden Landscape and Fountain.
Mosaics
introduction: 1
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