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The new Tiffany window The new Tiffany window

Tiffany to Shine at the Art Institute

New Acquisition

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When I first saw it in person, I was immediately drawn to the warmth of the light pouring through the vibrant landscape.


Design attributed to Agnes F. Northrop (American, 1857–1953); Tiffany Studios (American, 1902–32)

The Hartwell Memorial Window is one of the most extraordinary leaded glass windows ever made by Tiffany Studios, the leading glass firm of America’s Gilded Age. Standing in front of it is an experience that can’t be captured in words and images. Being able to experience the glass in such proximity, to get a close look at how a million dazzling elements come together to define such a rich landscape, and to imagine the intense collaboration it required to execute a work of this scale and intricacy—these are all still at the forefront of my mind as I think about how our visitors will encounter this work when it is installed in the Henry Crown Gallery at the top of the Women’s Board Grand Staircase in the Art Institute’s historic Michigan Avenue building.

Photo of Agnes Northrop, one of the leading designers in TIffany Studios

Agnes Northrop (1857–1953)


Unknown photographer, Davis and Sanford studio. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Paul Nassau

Attributed to Tiffany’s foremost landscape window designer, Agnes Northrop, the Hartwell Memorial Window stands 23 feet high by 16 feet wide. Made up of 48 separate panels, it is a technical marvel in the medium of glass and a work of stunning beauty.

Photo of curator Liz McGoey standing on scaffolding next to the Tiffany window at the original site.ding Copy

The author, Liz McGoey, stands next to the window on scaffolding during deinstallation.

My colleagues and I have had the privilege of working on this acquisition for over two years now, and the window still makes me catch my breath. When our department first learned of the window from its original stewards, the Community Church of Providence in Rhode Island, we were surprised that such an amazing work by the famed glass firm was not well known.

A dark interior of the the Central Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island (now Community Church of Providence) shows the Hartwell Memorial window installed high above the altar area.

The Hartwell Memorial Window in its original location.

While the church had taken excellent care of it since it was first installed in their building in 1917, it was not among the widely published works showcasing the firm’s brilliance—even as it is one of the largest known landscape windows Tiffany Studios ever produced.

“The window was astonishing to behold,” said Sarah Kelly Oehler, Field-McCormick Chair and Curator of American Art, the first to see the work on behalf of the Art Institute. She couldn’t believe her eyes. “Situated high above the altar, the landscape invited peaceful contemplation. I could absolutely see how Tiffany Studios suggested the connection between the spiritual and earthly realms through this extraordinary landscape design.”

Detail from the new Tiffany window showing beautiful multicolored trees.

Detail of Hartwell Memorial Window, 1917


Design attributed to Agnes F. Northrop; Tiffany Studios

We have been busy preparing the window for installation—a feat of present-day collaboration that parallels the expansive team active in its original design and fabrication. Our friends at the church, skilled stained glass specialists, and the Art Institute team of curators, conservators, and registrars helped shepherd the window from Providence to the Art Institute. Now that it is on-site, treatment is underway, with conservators working on the repair, cleaning, and analysis of the glass. We are also engaging an even wider group of experts on this complex endeavor including our design team, mountmaker, engineers, and fabricators. Together, we are developing an unprecedented approach to stained glass installation, one that we hope showcases the majesty of the window to maximum effect in its new home.

Dazzling. Luminous. Monumental. Unparalleled. Transformative. These are some of the superlatives I’ve heard used to describe this window. But we are confident there are plenty more to come.

We look forward to hearing yours!

—Liz McGoey, Ann S. and Samuel M. Mencoff Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts


Sponsors

The Hartwell Memorial Window was purchased with funds provided by the Antiquarian Society, the Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Family Foundation, and Ann and Samuel M. Mencoff; through prior gift of the George F. Harding Collection; Roger and J. Peter McCormick Endowment Fund; American Art Sales Proceeds, Discretionary, and Purchase funds; Jane and Morris Weeden and Mary Swissler Oldberg funds; purchased with funds provided by the Davee Foundation, Pamela R. Conant in memory of Louis John Conant, Stephanie Field Harris, the Komarek-Hyde-Soskin Foundation, and Jane Woldenberg; gifts in memory of John H. Bryan, Jr.; Wesley M. Dixon, Jr. Endowment Fund; through prior gift of the Friends of American Art Collection and Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson; purchased with funds provided by Jamee J. and Marshall Field, Roxelyn and Richard Pepper, and an anonymous donor; Goodman Endowment Fund; purchased with funds provided by Abbie Helene Roth in memory of Sandra Gladstone Roth, Henry and Gilda Buchbinder Family in memory of John H. Bryan, Jr., Suzanne Hammond and Richard Leftwich, Maureen Tokar in memory of Edward Tokar, Bonnie and Frank X. Henke, III, Erica C. Meyer, Joseph P. Gromacki in memory of John H. Bryan, Jr., Louise Ingersoll Tausché, Mrs. Robert O. Levitt, Christopher and Sara Pfaff, Charles L. and Patricia A. Swisher, Abby and Don Funk, Kim and Andy Stephens, and Dorothy J. Vance; B. F. Ferguson Fund; Jay W. McGreevy, Dr. Julian Archie, Mr. and Mrs. John W. Puth, and Kate S. Buckingham endowment funds

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