Tiffany Windows: An Interview with a Curator Transcription

Photo: David Stover © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts August 2013 Barry Shifman, the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Decorative Arts 1890 to the Present, joined the staff of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 2007. Previously, he was in charge of the Department of Decorative Arts at the Indianapolis Museum of Art from 1988 to 2006. During the 1980s, Shifman was a curatorial assistant in the Department of Decorative Arts at both the J. Paul Getty Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. While at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, he completed the reinstallation of the collection of Decorative Arts at the museum. Shifman has organized over fifteen exhibitions on subjects as diverse as American Arts & Crafts, Renaissance and Baroque European silver at the Armory Museum (Kremlin), and contemporary glass. He has published over twenty-five scholarly and popular articles, in journals such as Apollo, Revue du Louvre, Burlington, and Antiques, on topics such as Art Nouveau and Art Deco jewelry, 18th- to 19th-century Sèvres porcelain, American Arts & Crafts, and nineteenth-century British furniture. Shifman received his BA in art history from the University of California at Los Angeles and an MA in art history from the University of Chicago. He spent a year of independent study in Paris and six months at the Victoria and Albert Museum Study Centre in London. At present, Shifman is organizing a major traveling exhibition on Paris Fashion and Art Deco, 1910 – 1930.

Photo: David Stover © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
August 2013
Barry Shifman, the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Decorative Arts 1890 to the Present

An Interview With One of the Virginia Museum of Fine Art’s Curators: Barry Shifman

How did you choose your specialization?

BS: Years ago I decided to chose my specialty of decorative arts which is really museum work because I’d always loved antiques. As a young boy growing up in Los Angeles we were aware of the, if you will, lifestyles of the movie stars in Los Angeles and so I became interested in how they live. What sort of houses they had and what were the interiors of their houses like? And it was antiques. And so I studied antiques and it seemed a natural thing to continue studying it and the best place for me to work with antiques was in the museums. Although I did work briefly for an art dealer and I worked briefly at an art auction but museums really treat art and research art and display art in a way that felt most   appropriate and correct for my own particular goals as a museum professional.

Why was it decided to display this window instead of the blessing of the children window?

BS: I think we decided to show this Christ Resurrection window first, it was the more dramatic of the two. Frederick Wilson did both of them. There are plans to show the other window, the Christ Blessing the Children it needs restoration as did this window and that will take some time but we plan to display that window at some later date.

How was displaying the piece decided, or were there other ideas than the one chosen?

BS: Well we first had to find an ideal space for both windows, not at the same time. But, in order to display the window we had to search the building and find the most suitable spot and this came up and we thought it was a good spot, it’s the first thing you see on the street from boulevard. Once that was decided then we had to deal with the issue of how to install the window and that’s when conservator and design staff helped us to determine what would be appropriate and safe and to show the window off to its best advantage. And we did that.

Where was this piece before it was in the museum?

BS: The two windows that we received generously from All Saints Church were actually in the basement storage at the River Road facility. They had been there since the fifties when they arrived from the original location on Grace Street, downtown, and they had been in storage at the River Road for the past 50 years. So when I saw them they were filthy, and very difficult to see but we certainly knew that they were important. And proceeded to work out the gift arrangement and then of course conservation.

I don’t know if this is considered a sensitive question so we can skip over this, but how much is this piece worth.

BS: Well we’re not able to discuss prices but certainly Tiffany windows are desired for museums the church windows practically never come up for purchase because they’re in churches and it’s not appropriate to remove them. But the domestic windows for private homes are usually more costly but we’re certainly pleased that the church allowed us to receive this as a gift.

What makes this piece so special in comparison to other decorative glass resurrection scenes?

BS: Well I think what makes this window particularly special and we were desirous to get it as a gift from the church well certainly Frederick Wilson is the main designer of these church windows for Tiffany Glass Company. The subject certainly is dramatic it’s not terribly rare but certainly this is a beautifully rendered subject and it’s just very difficult to get windows by Frederick Wilson by Tiffany from churches. So they never come on the market.

In your opinion, what is the most interesting part, or your favorite part about this piece in particular?

BS: Well my favorite, my personal favorite part about this window designed by Frederick Wilson I think is the central figure with the rich elaborate halo effect and how the artist and the glass together create this luminosity and this very interesting depiction, rendition of light if you will. That to me make it special. And the two flanking lancets or panels show the darker areas, that’s intentional. That’s the choice of glass, and the coloring and the design and its done in order to allow the central figure to have the lightest background and I think that execution makes it particularly strong and impressive.

Why are Tiffany pieces considered so important?

BS: Now I think Tiffany glass is considered very important because at the turn of the last century he and his firm were really the top makers of stained glass, stained glass is a generic term for colored leaded glass. And he and his team and designers, particularly Frederick Wilson are really the top designers, artisans, makers of ecclesiastical  church windows and it’s just their excellence and so everyone would love to have church windows by Tiffany.            .

What kind of techniques are characteristically Tiffany?

BS: Well I think it’s the layered glass that’s so representative of church windows by Tiffany. Different colors, and different layers, two or three or sometimes four, that’s in order to create contrast in color or depth. That’s really particularly typical. I also think what’s important is the type of glass, whether it’s mottled glass or other types of glass which you look for when you’re identifying windows by Tiffany company.

And these students have been doing a lot of research on like the different types of glass that he utilized like drapery, and feathered and modeled and confetti, and they’re wondering if all of those were Tiffany’s own innovations.

BS: I think Tiffany’s company certainly innovated and created unusual glass. Rippling, confetti glass other types are typical of his company. But I have a feeling other companies did it as well. But we look in Tiffany’s glass for certain types like you mentioned, the rippling or the confetti glass, layered glass certainly.

Are you ever worried about the color of the windows fading, and there’s a second part, which is if so what is the attribute to color deterioration?

BS: Well are you asking about the fading of the colors, I’m not really a specialist of Tiffany glass. I actually don’t think the color fades because it’s embedded in the glass, it’s a like liquid it doesn’t fade with light especially because it has light behind it or natural light so I don’t think fading is a term you’d apply to glass.

Are there are any particular conservation issues that you yourself are aware of or concerned about?

BS: Well initially some the concerns we had about the conservation of the window was certainly was the lead canes or the lead framing the elements that hold the glass together was that secure and wasn’t in fact it was powdery and we had to re-lead much of the area to be sure that this jigsaw like puzzle of glass was held together with the lead canes. That was the most important thing. There were also certain pieces of small glass that had to be replaced because they were broken. And then the other most important thing was just the decades of dirt and grime had to be methodically and sensitively cleaned.