View Lamps and Lighting—Tiffany and His Contemporaries at The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. Few designers did more to bring art into the home than Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933), and few of Tiffany’s incredibly varied products did more in this regard than his lamps. Tiffany had been interested in lighting since his days as a decorator, but the rapid adoption of electricity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century created unprecedented opportunities to marry technology and beautiful design for a much larger group of consumers.
The new installation of Lamps and Lighting—Tiffany and His Contemporaries showcases some of Tiffany’s most innovative designs for lamps and sets a context for their production and design. John Dikeman’s workbench and lamp molds, recent acquisitions by the Morse, illustrate the process used in the creation of a lamp. Dikeman (1882–1967) was the head of Tiffany Studios lamp department until it closed in the 1930s.
The Morse Museum houses the world’s most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933), including the artist and designer’s jewelry, pottery, paintings, art glass, leaded-glass lamps and windows; his chapel interior from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago; and art and architectural objects from his Long Island country estate, Laurelton Hall. The Museum’s holdings also include American art pottery, late 19th- and early 20th-century American paintings, graphics, and decorative art.