Paula Nesiba
AmeriCorp volunteer coordinator for the Frank House, 308.293.1116 or enesiba2004@charter.net
UNK– “Frank Talks: The Life and Works of Louis C. Tiffany” will feature a presentation on Saturday, Feb. 13, about the Frank House’s historic Tiffany window and other works by Lewis C. Tiffany.
The presentation, which is free and open to the public, begins at 1:30 p.m. and is one in a series of “Saturdays at the Frank House” events. The Frank House, an historic mansion, is located on the University of Nebraska at Kearney West Campus.
Paula Nesiba, an AmeriCorps volunteer coordinator, will present a slide show about the Frank House Tiffany window and other pieces made by Lewis Comfort Tiffany.
“The Franks ordered the window from Tiffany and Co. in Coring, N.Y., in 1887,” Nesiba said. “It was shipped in pieces by rail with Tiffany employees, who assembled the window on site. The Franks paid $7,000 for the window, which was more than one-sixth of the cost of their home.
“The Tiffany window depicts a woman who is embodied as nature and vitality,” Nesiba said. “In 1971, the window was removed and put into storage while repairs were being done to the Frank House roof. The Tiffany window is what led to the house being put on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1973.”
Lewis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) is an American artist who is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements. Tiffany designed stained glass windows and lamps, glass mosaics, blown glass, ceramics, jewelry, enamels and metalwork.
The first Tiffany Glass Co. was incorporated on Dec. 1, 1885, which became known as the “Tiffany Studios” in 1902. At the beginning of his career, Tiffany used cheap jelly jars and bottles, because they had the mineral impurities that finer glass lacked. When he was unable to convince fine glassmakers to leave the impurities in, he began making his own glass. Tiffany used opalescent glass in a variety of colors and textures to create a unique style of stained glass.
In 1893, Tiffany built a new factory called the Stourbridge Glass Co., later called Tiffany Glass Furnaces, which was located in Corona, Queens, N.Y. Tiffany’s first commercially produced lamps were created in 1895. Much of his company’s production was in making stained glass windows and Tiffany lamps, but his company designed a range of interior decorations. At its peak, his factory employed more than 300 artisans.
