Louis Comfort Tiffany

by Alastair Duncan

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), whose name is synonymous with brilliantly colored stained glass, with Art Nouveau and with the Gilded Age, is one of the masters of American decorative arts. His research in the chemistry of glass enabled him to produce the famed Favrile iridescent glassware. He collaborated with the jewelers at Tiffany & Company, his father's renowned store, to create precious objets d'art, and he created unique and lavish architectural projects. This new volume in the Abrams Library of American Art examines Tiffany's life and career, from his beginnings as a painter influenced by the Hudson River School to his spectacular and innovative designs for the homes of America's magnates and luminaries (including Mark Twain's house in Connecticut). Alastair Duncan, a leading authority on Tiffany, presents the artist in context. In an illuminating essay and in commentaries on the artworks, he explores the artist's background and upbringing in the world of upper-class New Yor