Exhibitions - Tiffany’s Lamps: Lighting Luxury

Tiffany’s Lamps: Lighting Luxury

03.21.21 – Ongoing

The Neustadt Collection

A black and white photo of an 18th century style showroom. The room is filled with tables of different styles. Each holds a Tiffany lamp and decorative boxes. The walls are lined with curtains and framed paintings. From the ceiling hang an assortment of ornate light fixtures.

Image: Tiffany Studios Metals Showroom, 45th Street and Madison Avenue. Courtesy The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass.

When Tiffany’s leaded-glass lamps debuted in 1898, they were wildly popular because they combined usefulness and beauty in an innovative way. They provided illumination while softening the brightness of early electric light bulbs, but their interplay of richly-colored glass and sculpted bronze transformed these useful household objects into works of art.

 

Perhaps not surprisingly, these artful lighting fixtures came with hefty price tags. Tiffany’s lamps were made by hand from start to finish using costly materials, like hand-rolled glass and cast bronze, and ranged in price depending on their size and complexity of design. Tiffany’s prestigious brand name further contributed to the high price of these lamps.

 

Compare the variety of lamps and array of price points on display here, and then explore the rest of The Neustadt Gallery at the Queens Museum to learn more about the complex processes behind their creation.

 

Tiffany’s Lamps: Lighting Luxury is organized by The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass.

Supporters

The Queens Museum is housed in the New York City Building, which is owned by the City of New York.

 

The Museum is supported, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with Mayor Eric Adams, the Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and the New York City Council under the leadership of Speaker Adrienne E. Adams.

 

Major funding is generously provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Ford Foundation, Hearst Foundations, Jerome Foundation, Lambent Foundation, MacMillan Family Foundation, Mellon Foundation, E.A. Michelson Philanthropy, New York Community Trust, Richmond County Savings Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund.