You may have read in the Post Standard recently that a Baptist church in Vermont is selling its Tiffany stained glass window that has hung there for almost 100 years to raise much needed cash. The highest bid so far is $75,000. In our former James Street church we had a beautiful Tiffany stained glass window honoring our first church president of record, Edward Judson, who died in 1902. What it is worth today is priceless in terms of our church history. Named the Tiffany Palms and designed by the famous Louis Comfort Tiffany, it was known as the “New Jerusalem.” To see a photo of this window as it stood in our old church go to this link: http://history.mmuus.org/windows.html.
When the James Street church was being razed, it is the only one of the 10 stained glass windows saved and it has hung in the Everson Art Museum for many years. Many May Memorial parishioners and thousands of others have enjoyed its beauty over the years when visiting the Museum. Nancy Pease recently visited the museum and was surprised when looking for it to note its absence and asked officials there where it was. She mentioned this to me and here is the wonderful and honorific story of its current journey.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has organized in collaboration with the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond a touring exhibit of Tiffany Glass. This exhibition is one of the most significant ever mounted of Tiffany’s works and celebrates this renowned designer who achieved original and spectacular effects in hand-blown glass vessels, leaded glass windows and lamps, and other decorative objects. The exhibition’s curators are from the Montreal museum, the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Rutgers University. In addition to choosing pieces from the collaborating museums, the curators visited several venues where Tiffany pieces are housed, including the Everson. From all the Everson Tiffany pieces they chose our window. Everson Registrar, Karen Convertino, even travelled to Paris for its installation there.
The exhibition’s approximately 170 objects includes blown-glass vessels, lamps, leaded-glass windows, and other decorative objects. Currently, in its first 12-week exhibition at the Paris museum until the end of December, it is known as “Tiffany Glass: A Passion for Colour” (Couleurs et Lumière). Starting mid February for another 12 weeks it will be at the Montreal museum where it will be known as the “Fusion of Colour: The Glass of Louis C. Tiffany.” Its final 12 week exhibit will begin at the end of May in the Richmond museum where it will be known as “Tiffany: Color and Light.” Anyone for a trip to Pairs, Montreal, or Richmond for a wonderful experience and seeing in person how our window has complemented this exhibition? If you do visit, take photos.
Rog Hiemstra, Chair, History Committee
Written December 15, 2009
