FROM THE
COVER
windo Discovering Louis Comfort Tiffany’s innovations in glass throughout Connecticut
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By Elle Rahilly iffany leaded glass windows offer a stunning glimpse into a storied segment of Connecticut history and a globally recognized artisan’s roots in the region. Louis Comfort Tiffany, born 1848, characterized his life’s work as a “quest of beauty.” The son of iconic jeweler Charles Lewis Tiffany, he made a distinctive legacy for himself as a prolific designer of the late nineteenth century through his work with glass. “Louis had this passion for innovation in glass, and for really pushing the limits of artistic representation,” says Tanya Pohrt, curator of the Louis Comfort Tiffany in New London exhibit at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London. “Part of his creativity as an artist is that he always wanted to try new things, and to celebrate the beauty of nature, and history, and cultures around the world. His windows were a great opportunity to really get the glass out into different communities.” The Tiffany family’s ties to the region dates back to the late eighteenth century with Tiffany’s grandfather, Comfort Tiffany, who owned and operated a cotton mill on the Quinebaug River. Charles was born in 1812, and eventually went on to open a business in New York City with John Burnett Young, a friend from Connecticut. “Charles married Young’s sister, Harriet Olivia Avery Young, so both sides of Louis’ family are from Connecticut,” Pohrt shares. “I feel like that is influential in terms of who they spent time with when they came back for summers, vacations, and holidays.” Tiffany and his sister Annie were raised in New York City, and took frequent trips to visit relatives in Killingly, Norwich, and New London. It was in Norwich that Tiffany met and married his first wife, Mary Goddard. “A lot of Louis’ work was done in New York, so that’s where the magic happened, but so much of the family history and roots are in eastern Connecticut,” says Pohrt. Annie Tiffany married a distant relative of Goddard’s, Alfred Mitchell, and the two settled down together on the bank of the Thames River in New London. The estate is now a part of Mitchell College’s campus. Tiffany and his family were frequent visitors to the Mitchells in the mid-tolate 1870s and 1880s.
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on the shoreline