Guns and glass – celebrate the Tiffany family design legacy at Nevada Museum of Art

The Nevada Museum of Art is excited to announce three exhibitions that celebrate art of the Tiffany era. The Tiffany family design legacy is presented in this unique mix of exhibitions featuring Louis Comfort Tiffany’s stained glass of the Art Nouveau era and a rare collection of Tiffany & Co.’s decorative firearms. Charles Lewis Tiffany established Tiffany & Co. in 1837; while his son Louis Comfort Tiffany later founded Tiffany Studios, renowned for exquisite decorative objects.

Out of the Forest: Art Nouveau Lamps

This exhibition features 20 stained glass lamps manufactured in the early 20th century by the companies of Tiffany Studios; Handel; Durand; and Duffner & Kimberly. The exhibition focuses on themes related to the Art Nouveau style and its inspiration in nature, as well as the history of various design companies who competed for customers at the turn of the century. The lamps will be displayed on a 75-foot-long custom pedestal system designed in the shape of a dragonfly—Tiffany Studio’s company logo.

All of the objects in this exhibition are from the private collection of Byron Vreeland.

In the Company of Angels: Seven Rediscovered Tiffany Windows

Comprised of seven stained glass window panels, the works in this exhibition were created by Tiffany Studios at the beginning of the 20th century and named for the angels in the Book of Revelation from the Bible. The windows were originally installed in the Church of the New Jerusalem in Cincinnati, Ohio until the building was taken by eminent domain and demolished for highway construction in 1964. The windows, crated and stored in various garages and sheds for decades, were re-discovered in 2001. This national exhibition tour debuts the story of these seven rediscovered Tiffany Windows.

Arthur Femenella, a Tiffany stained glass expert, and conservator overseeing the restoration of these windows, explains: ―These Tiffany windows are selected from a rich and varied palette of opalescent, drapery, rolled, textured, antiqued and flashed glass. The faces and flesh of the angels are delicately hand painted with vitreous paint. The rest of the windows are exquisitely plated, a technique developed by Tiffany and John La Farge involving the mechanical layering of layers of glass used to achieve great depth.‖

Tiffany & Co. Arms from the Robert M. Lee Collection

This exclusive, single-venue exhibition highlights the wares of Tiffany & Co., the most distinguished name in decorative firearms in America — a surprise to those who might otherwise recognize the firm as a legendary purveyor of fine silver, jewelry and luxury objects. Founded in 1837 by Charles Lewis Tiffany, what became Tiffany & Co. commenced business just one year after the young inventor Samuel Colt registered his new designs for revolving pistols and long arms with the U.S. Patent Office. In the 175 years since then, the paths of Tiffany & Co. and Colt crossed many times.

The Robert M. Lee Collection is recognized as the finest selection of Tiffany & Co. arms privately owned. The collection of arms in this exhibition — including three revolvers, four pistols, one rifle, and one presentation sword — is rivaled only by those on display in the Robert M. Lee Gallery of American Arms, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.