NYAB Event - "Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Art" Exhibition

Permanent event
At Queens Museum of Art
Media: Furniture, Product, Ceramics, Other

Louis Comfort Tiffany (American, 1848-1933) was one of the foremost decorative artists of his time. His father, Charles Lewis Tiffany, was the co-founder of Tiffany & Company, the luxury retailer best known for fine silver and jewelry. At an early age Tiffany was exposed to superbly-designed and expertly-crafted objets d’art, undoubtedly stimulating his love and appreciation for exceptional objects and setting him on a self-proclaimed “quest for beauty.”

Tiffany began his career as a landscape painter but eventually branched out into interior design and the decorative arts. Over the years he formed a number of companies in both Manhattan and Queens that manufactured leaded-glass windows, lamps, mosaics, glassware, enamels, ceramics, metalwork, furniture, and textiles. These works were available at his Manhattan showroom and in fine retail and jewelry stores throughout the United States and Europe.

Tiffany embarked on the production of lamps in the early 1890s. Although the light bulb was patented in 1879, electricity was not widely available until shortly after the turn of the century and even then only the wealthy could afford it. Tiffany’s earliest lamps, made of blown glass or leaded-glass and bronze, were fueled by kerosene. As electric light became affordable and gained popularity, Tiffany began offering his clients the choice of either oil or electric lamps.

One of the earliest serious collectors of Tiffany lamps, Dr. Neustadt assembled an encyclopedic collection which included desk, reading, library, and floor lamps as well as hanging shades and chandeliers. He also added leaded-glass windows and bronze desk sets to his collection. In 1967, he acquired some 500 crates of sheet and pressed glass made and used by the Tiffany Studios which were left over after the company went bankrupt in the early 1930s.

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