Above Image: Macy’s Pedway with Installation of American Victorian Stained Glass Windows.

The Art of American Victorian Stained Glass Windows

Location: Macy’s Pedway

Installed: December, 2013.

Opening Reception: Dec 9, 2013… click here..

This pioneering Exhibit is presented by Macy’s in cooperation with the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows, The Chicago Cultural Mile Association and generous donors.

The generous donors include: The Chicago Cultural Mile Association, Macy’s, Northern Trust, Exelon, BMO Harris Bank, The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust, Prince Charitable Trusts, The Buchanan Family Foundation, Susan Crown and William C. Kunkler III, Chauncey and Marion D. McCormick Family Foundation.

 

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Macy’s Pedway Installation of American Victorian Stained Glass

Pioneering Exhibit..click here..
Documentation of the Exhibits.. click here..
Opening Reception..click here..

Chicago: Art Glass.. click here..

 

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The Exhibit Team:
Exhibit Curator: Rolf Achilles
Architecture/ Project Design: Roland Lucien Lieber
Stained Glass Conservation, Restoration and Exhibition Wall fabrication: Botti Studio of Architectural Arts, Evanston, IL

 

 

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PHOTO GALLERY
Click on the image to enlarge…

 

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The Art of American Victorian Stained Glass

Macy’s , in cooperation with the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows, The Chicago Cultural Mile Association, and generous donors is pleased to present this pioneering exhibit.

The exhibit is pioneering because the profound originality of American Victorian non-religious stained glass windows [for residences and public buildings] has not been recognized by art scholars or the public. American Victorian secular glass was an important link to 20th century modernism.

American Victorian secular stained glass windows [1880-1910] were completely different from most painted European stained glass. Innovators like Louis Comfort Tiffany and John Lafarge utilized opalescent glass [the glass itself is extravagantly colored] and focused on illuminating the glass, to let the light itself paint the desired image.

They also frequently imbedded glass chunks as well as actual pebbles and shells in their design. Other American innovations included faceted-glass and cut-glass jewels, beveled glass, pressed designs such as scrolls and stem of flowers, folded glass that looked like draped textile, ripple glass that looked like feathers and confetti glass.

Japanese influence became a central feature of late 19th century secular stained glass. Stylized flowers and abstract patterns as asymmetrical composition demonstrate some of the earliest examples abstraction and asymmetry in American art.

American stained glass studios were among the first to be socially progressive in advancement of women in a primarily male workforce. The importance of this inclusion is only now being understood.

 

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RELATED LINKS..

Pioneering Exhibit..click here..
Documentation of the Exhibit.. click here..
Opening Reception..click here..

Chicago: Art Glass.. click here..

 

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