I’ve been meaning to share these pictures from the Tiffany Lamp Exhibit at the New York Historical Society that I visited a few weeks ago (see Part 1). This exhibit was by far the highlight of the day! The lamps are so beautiful. I’m not an overtly Tiffany’s fan but you don’t have to be to see these lamps and really appreciate them. There are a couple of fun facts from the exhibit. First, the lamps that have the larger bases on them (see the third picture above) were originally oil lamps and have been retrofitted to be electric. So if you see come across a lamp that has a larger base, chances are it was originally an oil lamp. Second, see that lamp in the fourth picture above? It is about 6 feet tall and had just sold for $415,000 two weeks prior to my visit! Amazing!
The exhibit also told the history of the Tiffany lamp. One such historical item was the original leaded glass windows from the Tiffany Studios. Another such historical fact was about the “Tiffany Girls”. The girls were hired after the men’s-only Lead Glaziers and Glass Cutter’s Union strike. The girls were 16 years old and older and had art school training. They normally worked in pairs-one woman selected the glass while the other one cut the pieces and wrapped it with copper foil in preparation for assembly.
There was also an interactive piece where you could design your own Tiffany lamp. And there was also some other Tiffany’s products on display outside of the lamps. See the last picture above.
If you have a chance to visit the exhibit, I highly recommend it. It was so well done and well worth the visit! My understanding is that the exhibit is permanent with lamps rotating in and out of the exhibit.