Day 272 - La Farge stained glass window

 


November 23, 2021

Galleries 736 through 742 are closed for renovation, a guard tells me. These are period rooms, one of which is John D. Rockefeller's dressing room. I hope that one will not be altered much - it would be interesting to catch a glimpse of the lifestyles of the rich and famous of the Gilded Age. With the guard's help (the gallery numbers are not always posted), I find gallery 743, which turns out to be a large space filled with furniture and decorative objects from the Aesthetic Movement and the Arts and Crafts Movement (approximately 1870-1920).  A third of the gallery is devoted to the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, and while I am not a great Tiffany devotee, I do admire his inventiveness and his desire to produce beautiful works in a number of media (jewelry, ceramics, glass, etc.).  The gallery also holds several pieces of furniture by Gustav Stickley;  the name "Stickley" always makes me think of Neoma Berger, who, like Stickley, came from Syracuse, and who owned a number of Stickley pieces, according to Mother (though not ones made by Gustav himself, I assume). Throughout, it's interesting to see the influence of East Asian and Islamic design elements, as Americans, like their European counterparts, became drawn to the arts of far-off,  exotic places.

Today's object is a stained glass window made by John La Farge (1835-1910), who was also a well-known oil and watercolor painter, illustrator, and muralist. This window, which measures about 6 feet high and 4 feet wide, was created for the Newport "residence" (the placard's term; I'd bet "mansion" is equally appropriate) of Henry Marquand, who was president of the Met from 1889 to 1902. I don't much like the elaborate, stylized designs that frames the interior scene, but I think that interior, depicting "Peonies Blown in the Wind," is really lovely. In particular,  the shadings of the peonies, from white to light pink to coral to brilliant red, are exquisitely executed, and they really stand out against the brilliant blue ground.



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