January 18, 1933
OBITUARY
Louis C. Tiffany, Noted Artist, Dies
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Louis Comfort Tiffany, artist and philanthropist, president of the Tiffany Studios, 46 West Twenty-third Street, and son of the founder of Tiffany & Co., jewelers, of which he was, himself, a vice
president and director, died at 6:45 o'clock last night at his residence, 27 East Seventy- second Street, an apartment house which he designed. He had been ill for ten days with pneumonia. He
was 84 years old.
Surviving are a son, Charles L. Tiffany, and four daughters, Mrs. Graham Lusk, Mrs. Rodman Gilder, Mrs. Frank Weld, all of this city, and Mrs. Dorothy T. Burlingham of Vienna.
The funeral service will be held privately at the convenience of the family.
Louis Comfort Tiffany was among the best known of American artists. He was born in New York on Feb. 18, 1848, a son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, the jeweler, and Mrs. Harriet Olivia Young Tiffany. He studied art under George Inness and Samuel Coleman in
New York and under Leon Bailly in Paris. Yale University conferred an honorary A. M. degree on him in 1903.
Mr. Tiffany's paintings in oils and water-colors were chiefly of Oriental scenes. He also executed decorative work and is best known for his work in glass. He devised new formulas for decorative designs in this medium know as "Tiffany Favrile
glass." It was produced by the Tiffany Studios, of which he was president and art director.
Mr. Tiffany also was vice president and director of Tiffany & Co., jewelers, and vice president and director of Tiffany & Co. Safe Deposit Company.
Honors Won at Expositions
A gold medal was awarded to him and he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in Paris in 1900. In 1893, at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, he received fifty-four medals. Other honors included the grand prix at the Paris Exposition
in 1900 and at St. Petersburg the next year; gold medal, Buffalo Exposition in 1901 and the Dresden Exposition the same year; grand prix and special diploma at the Turin Exposition in 1902; gold
medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904 and the Jamestown Exposition in 1907; grand prize at the Seattle Exposition in 1909, and gold medal at the Panama Exposition in 1915 and at the Sesquicentennial
Exposition at Philadelphia in 1926.
He was a member of the Century Club, American Water Color Society, New York Society of Fine Arts, Architectural League, Imperial Society of Fine Arts of Tokyo, Japan, and the Societe National des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
In 1919 he established the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation for art students at Oyster Bay and deeded to it his entire collection of paintings, glass and other art objects, together with a fund of $1,000,000, the income from which is used to maintain
the institution. Its purposes, as outlined by Mr. Tiffany, are "art education, directed both to art appreciation and production within the scope of the industrial as well as the fine arts, and,
as one means toward these educational purposes, the establishment and maintenance of a museum to contain objects of art."
Mr. Tiffany gave his Oyster Bay home, Laurelton Hall, to the foundation, together with eighty acres of land. He built studios and luxurious living quarters and every Summer invited fifty artist, from all parts of the country to work there at his expense.
The twelfth annual exhibit of the work of members of the foundation at the American-Anderson Galleries represented the work of more than 300 artists. The 500 pieces exhibited included paintings,
sculpture, lithographs, metal work and jewelry.
His Art Much Discussed
Mr. Tiffany was reckoned as one of the first exponents of modern art in the United States. His own painting, architectural designs and glass brought about much discussion. When recognition came to him, however, it was overwhelming. During his later years
he leaned rather toward the conservative in art, although he was greatly interested in the work of all members of the foundation, however modern.
His own home anticipated by twenty years the modern trend in furniture. He had designed the house, grounds, furniture, carpets, textiles, silver and china. There are studios for painting and sculpture and workshops for metal jewelry design, all connected
with the house by a long, glass- covered passageway. He lived there alone, except for servants and two trained nurses.
Mr. Tiffany married Miss Mary Woodbridge Goddard on May 15, 1872. Two years after her death in 1884 he married Miss Louise Wakeman Knox, a daughter of the Rev. J. H. Mason Knox of Philadelphia, who died several years ago.
On Jan. 8, 1931, in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of his election to the National Academy of Design, members of the council of the organization called on him at his home to present to him an illuminated parchment extolling his services to art.
Cass Gilbert, president of the academy, headed the delegation. On the parchment was inscribed:
"The officers and council of the National Academy of Design send greetings to our fellow- member, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and congratulate him on his fifty years as an academician. During this time, inspired by a vision of the future, his creative
genius has opened new fields, added greater beauty to the world of art and brought much honor to his profession.
"It also desires to express its appreciation for his help and encouragement to many workers in the arts who have taken advantage of his splendid generosity in founding the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation."
|