Fire Screen
Artist
John La Farge
(American, 1835 - 1910)
CultureAmerican
Dateca. 1880-85
MediumLeaded opalescent glass with painted wood
Dimensions39 7/8 × 36 1/4 × 13 in. (101.3 × 92.1 × 33 cm)
InscribedEach panel marked with diamond point script: "J.LaFarge Pat.1880". The Pat.1880 was for opalescent glass for windows.
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number74.26.1
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 116-5
Label TextJohn LaFarge American (1835-1910) Fire Screen, ca. 1883 Flat and pressed glass with inclusions, leaded; ebonized wood frame 40 x 36 1/4 x 13 1/8 in. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 74.26.1 John LaFarge (1835-1910) was a painter, stained glass designer and decorator. Along with Louis Comfort Tiffany, he pioneered the use of opalescent glass in stained glass window manufacturing, revolutionizing the medium. Previously, stained glass windows were made by painting the design on flat panes of boldly colored glass. Opalescent glass, however, was available in a wide array of subtle hues and textures. LaFarge and Tiffany utilized these color variegations and textures in opalescent glass to achieve their window designs without relying strictly on paint. They also made extensive use of plating the glass to enhance shading and depth in the composition. LaFarge received and executed major commissions for stained glass windows during the early 1880s including the William K. Vanderbilt House in New York and Trinity Church in Boston. His figural window at Trinity Church, Christ in Majesty, had a background composed entirely of glass spheres. Something of this innovative approach to texture can be seen in this fire screen. ProvenancePelham, N.Y.; Post Road Antiques, Larchmont, N.Y., 1970*; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., N.Y.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1974. *See ad in The Connoisseur, 12/1970 Exhibition History"John LaFarge", National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., July 10-Oct. 7, 1987. The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, Nov. 7, 1987-Jan. 3, 1988. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, Feb. 24-April 24, 1988, no. 151, 206. Published ReferencesElizabeth Wylie and Sheldon Cheek, THE ART OF STAINED AND DECORATIVE GLASS, (New York: Todtri Productions Limited, 1997), 96-97 Carnegie/Smithsonian, JOHN LAFARGE, fig. 151, 206 Joe Porcelli, STAINED GLASS JEWELS OF LIGHT, (New York: Michael Friedman Publishing Group Inc., 1998), 61 Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 138, fig. 172. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1 Diane C. Wright (editor), _Glass Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017) pg. 106-107.
