1848-1933, American glass artist and painter

The lovers of Art Nouveau are captured by the works of Tiffany floral motifs, flowing shapes and colour iridescent glass in a world of gracious elegance.

Born in New York in 1848, painter and glass artist Louis Comfort Tiffany developed a specific process for the preparation of the fragile material traded under the trade name "Tiffany Favrile glass" from 1894 By adding metallic salts and resin solutions of burnishing effect of blue-green or silvery iridescent violet extending in irregular waves decors is created.

In the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 he exhibited briefly his only designated Tiffany lamps light objects. Different colour glass, artfully designed bronze feet and sensual erotic figures make the commodities become works of art special stimulus. The stem glasses in calyx shape, its bulbous vases, as well as the famous church stained glass windows show great colours and shapes. The philosophical principle of style of the Fin de siècle, to combine art and nature, finds its richest execution in the Tiffanys objects.

Typical of the turn of the century the efforts of the artists was to produce so-called works of art. The design activities related to all aspects of life up to the jewellery. This sector opened up the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany jewellery artist, when he took over in 1902 the jewellery store after the death of his father. 1933 Tiffany died aged 84 in New York.

Art Nouveau, known as Jugendstil in Germany, is a term for the art in 1890-1910. The name originates from the Munich-based magazine "Jugend" (Youth) founded in 1896. Internationally, the style is known as Art Nouveau (France), Modern Style (England) or Secession (Austria).

The Art Nouveau conquered all of Europe and there were created countless objects whose spectrum ranges from painting, applied arts to architecture. The Art Nouveau requirement was the artistic creation of everyday objects, that is beauty and practicality should be combined with each other. The desired unit of the artistic ability could only be achieved by individually expressed design, which allowed Art Nouveau to become an early stage of modernity. The essential characteristic of the Art Nouveau is a linear, often asymmetrical ornamentation whose models are to be found particularly in nature and flora.

Major Art Nouveau centers were formed in Munich, Darmstadt, Brussels, Paris and Nancy (Glass Art by Emile Gallé). The Viennese architecture of that time was determined by Otto Wagner and J. Hoffmann. Gustav Klimt created paintings that gave sensual form to the spirit of the Art Nouveau.

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