THE CHARLES HOSMER MORSE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART HOUSES THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF WORKS BY LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY, one of the most prolific designers of the late 19th century and best known for his work in stained glass. But how did the Morse Museum acquire such a large volume of Tiffany works, including objects from his Long Island country estate and chapel interior from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago?
We joined Jennifer Thalheimer, Morse Museum director and chief curator, an authority on Louis Comfort Tiffany, for a walkthrough of the museum and a deep dive into everything Tiffany.
Early History
Orlando Magazine: How did the Morse Museum come to acquire the largest collection of Tiffany’s works?
Jennifer Thalheimer: It was sort of by happenstance. Charles Hosmer Morse moved to Winter Park in the 1880s and established his residency here around 1904. His granddaughter, Jeannette, ended up living here as well. She was an artist and had a gallery called Central Street Gallery, where she encouraged artists, sold their work and brought the community together. She was very involved in Rollins College, and met another young artist who was attending Rollins, Hugh McCain (who eventually went on to become a professor at Rollins).
Before that, McCain was a painter who was accepted to study at Louis Comfort Tiffany’s foundation on Long Island—Tiffany’s home, Laurelton Hall. McCain lived and studied there in 1930 and immersed himself in everything Laurelton Hall. He was impressed by Tiffany’s drive to help the younger generation get a foothold in the art community. That stuck with McCain. He married Jeannette and eventually became president of Rollins College [1951-1969].
Mrs. McCain had started a gallery on campus named after her grandfather [the Morse Museum is now on 445 N. Park Ave.], and they decided to do an exhibition on Tiffany. They borrowed works from The Met and the Smithsonian. But then, in 1957, Laurelton Hall burned. Tiffany’s daughter wrote to the McCains and asked if there was any way they could come to do salvage. In 1950, nobody wanted the material. It was not really valued. But the McCains were determined to save as much as they could.
Jennifer Thalheimer is the director and chief curator at the Morse Museum in Winter Park and an authority on Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Piecing Together a Collection
OM: What happened next?
JT: They stored it. They exhibited what they could, and Hugh McCain wrote a book that told the personal story of Tiffany, the man he knew. Eventually, people came around and started to realize the value of it (Tiffany’s work).
Not only did they get the greatest stuff he had, but they were also interested in the windows and the artwork, which really told the story of who Tiffany was.
OM: What percentage of Tiffany’s work would you say you have on display?
JT: You’re probably only seeing a quarter of the collection at any given time. The chapel is always going to be here, and much of the Laurelton Hall material will always be out, but we do rotate other things. In general, we change out four to six galleries a year.
Among the decorative arts at the Morse Museum are hand-blown vases in many styles and sizes.
OM: How do you decide what you’ll rotate?
JT: We want to tell a story, so everything is reinterpreting the works and being able to give people insights into it. It could be a refresh of different types of Tiffany glass, or pottery. We don’t have labels all over the place. We want you to come in, walk through and not read anything, just enjoy the visual experience of it.
The Life of a Curator
OM: What is a day or a week in the life of a curator at the Morse Museum?
JT: One of the great things about this museum is that Hugh McCain really wanted us to immerse ourselves in the material here. We are able to research and go in-depth into our objects. We’ll have them forever, so it helps us to build up the information. We can come up with a package of objects we know are in our collection that tell a different facet of the story.
OM: How did you get involved in the art world and the Morse Museum?
JT: I grew up on Long Island, where Tiffany’s property was, but I had no idea who Tiffany was. I used to go to the town beach, which was Tiffany’s beach. By that time, the house had burned, but the lower section still existed. One day, I took pictures of that part, not really knowing what it was. I discovered Hugh McCain’s book and sent them to him. When I started working here, I found that they were still in the archives.
I had always been interested in history and ended up going to graduate school to study decorative arts. Louis Comfort Tiffany was my specialty. I’ve been here since 1999.
Among the items you’ll find at the Morse Museum are Tiffany’s jewelry and lamps.
Revelations
OM: What do you think people would be surprised to know about Tiffany?
JT: People think they know who Tiffany is. They think of the lamps and maybe the windows. But he was part of a bigger movement. He was in business from the 1860s to about 1938. That’s a long time to be in business when you rely on trends and styles. It’s really an accomplishment. He was on a quest for beauty. That was the most important thing for him to convey, and it was through every material possible.
It makes you think about the craftsmanship of these pieces. That’s something people live with every day. What makes a cozy chair? What makes a space personal? What makes you really enjoy these things? That’s what Tiffany was trying to create—something that everybody would love and get that feeling from, to be able to integrate into their own homes.
OM: Tell me about Tiffany’s early works.
JT: In the early glass that’s in our collection, you can see Tiffany’s mind going. He would experiment with a material and then would bring in the best experts and work with them to make it into what he couldn’t do himself, so they would continue it and take it in new directions. It was the time of patents. Tiffany was experimenting, and he was philosophical about it—thinking about color and its kinship to sound, looking at color and how light plays through it. He was always trying to rethink the way things were perceived.
The Genius of Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany was the son of Charles Tiffany, who founded the jewelry company Tiffany & Co.
Charles employed some wonderful artists, and Louis was able to learn from them early on and study the material they were setting,” says Thalheimer. “He was exposed to a lot internationally, so he knew about Japanese design and Islamic design.”
“All of these branches just fueled this incredible mind,” she continues. “Tiffany started out as a painter first, that was his first love—he would go out into nature and take it in. You can imagine the frustration of somebody who is trying to convey color and light through a canvas—naturally, you’re going to be attracted to going into glass.”
She points to a window on display at the Morse Museum and explains how Tiffany’s studies of nature and glass working make a piece seem both natural and complicated.
“There are so many techniques in this window,” says Thalheimer. “This cold, hard material looks like it is a billowy textile. You get that feeling he’s using multiple layers of glass plating so that you get the backgrounds behind this initial piece of glass, which in itself is textured.”
“Through the leaves,” she continues,” it’s almost impressionistic, but then again, it’s also plated, and so it’s incredibly complicated, but you don’t notice the complication because it seems very straightforward and very natural. You can feel the light and distance.”