Chicago and Stained Glass

by Jane

Just a few words and photos to hold the place until I get around to writing more.

Yesterday we drove the 2+ hours from Madison to Chicago, setting out early so we could have plenty of time in Chicago where we (just me, really) particularly wanted to see some Tiffany stained glass.

It was quite warm and we walked from the hotel to Navy Pier - and then back later in the afternoon, which goes a long way to explaining why no blog posts were made last night - we were exhausted!

Gary made us walk through the enclosed garden on the upper level on the way down Navy Pier - and then played with the fountains:

Dad and Gary at the fountains

Gary playing with the water

We then went on and had a ferris wheel ride (Gary and I) during which I took random photos with my eyes mainly closed, and Gray took some more useful shots.  Dad refused to get involved in such silliness and stayed on the ground.

Gary - enjoying himself

My obsession with how far up I was

Finally we visited the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows in the lower level of Navy Pier (and the reason we had come to Chicago and the Pier).  Along with the Prairie School buildings I wanted to see a 'real' Tiffany stained glass window.  I have lots of photos and books and postcards at home, and my computer desktop is always a black background with a Tiffany window image in the centre.  I change the image every year like so:

But if we were going to be wandering around America I wanted to see the real thing.

The stained glass museum contained more than just the Tiffany pieces, and though I like a lot of stained glass there are certainly some windows which don't appeal as I found out while we wandered around taking photos.  The pieces I would describe as 'Victorian' weren't very appealing to me, and the religious glass where much of a scene was painted on also failed to impress.  One surprise was the mosaic glass which I was very close to when I rounded the corner and saw it for the first time - and thought it was stupid - but when I was leaving that area I happened to look back at it from a distance and it was brilliant!  

Flowers in a Ribbon Frame

I generally did take a photo of the accompanying information board for each glass photo so I could say what they were and who made them but in this case I was already on the other side of the room and just wandered on, which was a pity.

Edited to add:  Found an awesome .pdf file by Rolf Achilles that has all the info boards all typed up so I can now correctly label the mosaic window as:

FLOWERS IN A RIBBON FRAME, 1880s
Designed and fabricated by Belcher Mosaic Glass Company, Newark, New Jersey.
71" H x 53" W

I only took a couple of photos of a few things I liked the look of - or wasn't sure yet whether I did or not - but I won't put them all in because then we arrived at the first Tiffany room.  These two are known as 'A Pair of Poppies' and are from the late 1890s.  They are designed and attributed to Louis Comfort Tiffany and were made in the Tiffany Studios in New York.  (See, I took a photo of that information board! ;o)

A Pair of Poppies

Since the display rooms were dark and the flash reflected badly on the glass photographing them was a bit tricky for a novice like myself so I have a dozen pictures of the following window, trying to get the colour right and avoid the fuzziness of wobbly hands.

This is 'Landscape with Yellow Sky'* from about 1915.  The design is attributed to Agnes F. Northrop and the window was manufactured at the Tiffany Studios, New York.  I do have some issues with understanding the attribution of this glass and the Prairie School buildings we visited.  Though they generally end up getting attributed to the business (Tiffany / Louis Sullivan) there seems to be one particular worker who actually did the design.  And sometimes depending on the document the attribution is different.

Anyway, to me this is 'Tiffany' as I like it. ;o)

Landscape with Yellow Sky

* Yellow sky is an odd feature also found in the cover art of the children's books my friends and I collect.  Perhaps it's not as odd as we thought!

This wasn't the end of the Tiffany display but I'll move on to other artists.  I liked this one, too:

Three Flowering Bulbs

This is:

THREE FLOWERING BULBS, c. 1900
Unidentified designer and fabricator. Possibly from a Chicago area house.
86" H x 44" W


What particularly appealed about this one was that it was (a) stained glass, (b) a style I like - Art Nouveau / Prairie School, and (c) it was in the citrus colours I like best.  Citrus-coloured stained glass!

As well as the Tiffany that I knew was in the museum there was some Prairie School glass that I enjoyed seeing, although it was displayed in a well lit area which didn't do it any favours.

Here was a highlight:

Frank Lloyd Wright, I thought to myself - but no!

THE BABSON HOUSE, RIVERSIDE, ILLINOIS, 1920
Designed by George Grant Elmslie (1871 - 1952). Probably fabricated in Chicago.
45" H x 17" W

The information board goes on to mention Frank Lloyd Wright's earlier use of the disc element in windows for the Coonley Playhouse.  It was great to have identified a FLW style - and to see how close some of Elmslie's work was to that.