Sunset in Autumn Woods

Tiffany Studios; attributed to Agnes F. Northrop

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Object Label

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933) revolutionized the art of stained-glass windows in late nineteenth-century America and led America to the forefront of this art form. His relentless pursuit of a brilliant range of color meant endless experiments with adding metal oxides to the basic glass and manipulating and layering the finished product to produce just the right effect in a completed window. "My chemists and furnace men insisted for a long time that it was impossible to achieve the effect we were striving for," he wrote. "New-style firing ovens had to be built and new methods devised for annealing glass. It took me thirty years to learn the art." But the quest paid off and Tiffany windows became world-renowned. By the turn of the century, with a surge in church construction, Tiffany windows were in great demand.

The windows on displayed here were produced during this period. Originally made in 1905 for the Universalist Church of Our Father at Classon and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn, the windows were purchased by the All Souls Universalist Church on Ocean Avenue and installed in its sanctuary in 1945, where they remained until they came to the Brooklyn Museum.

On the one hand, the windows are realistic representations of two sylvan landscapes, using the inherent properties of translucent colored glass to capture the subtle effects of changing light at dawn and dusk. On the other hand, in depicting a springtime wood at sunrise and an autumn wood at sunset, they also constitute an allegory of life and the passage of time.

Caption

Tiffany Studios 1902–1932; attributed to Agnes F. Northrop American, 1857–1953. Sunset in Autumn Woods, 1905. Stained glass window, approx.: 150 x 43 in. (381 x 109.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of All Souls Bethlehem Church, 2014.17.2. Creative Commons-BY

Frequent Art Questions

When were these acquired and brought to the museum?
The windows were actually made originally in Corona, NY in 1905 for the Universalist Church of Our Father at Classon and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn, then purchased and installed by All Souls Universalist church in 1945. They came to the Brooklyn Museum in 1999. So, they have not been here long. They are a recent acquisition after having been on loan here for some time.
Why is this considered innovative?
If you look at details like the waterfall and the stream, you can see one of Tiffany's innovations in glassmaking. These included swirling together different colors of glass while they were still hot and liquid. It was almost like painting with glass.
Are these religious?
Yes, in a way. These were originally made in 1905 for the Universalist Church of Our Father, located at Classon and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn. Within that context, scenes of nature were viewed as representing the majesty of God's work. One shows dawn in springtime and the other sunset in autumn. Together, they are an allegory of the cycle of life and the passage of time.
Do you have the cartoon of the Tiffany stained glass window?
I'm not seeing any collection listing for a cartoon. Most cartoons remained in the Tiffany archives, much of which now belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but this is just one guess as to where it might be!
Ok, thanks!
We’re looking at the stained glass on the fourth floor and loving this technique the label states got improved in this period: the opalescent glass. It’s so impressive how they can blend all these colors in the same piece of glass! Do you know any more about how they made the opalescent pieces?
The "opalescent" glass was made by mixing different colors of glass together when they were in their molten state. The glass had been colored with minerals and engineered by chemists. In some objects silver nitrate was added to the surface. They achieved such beautiful effects! Tiffany hired many talented glassworkers to work in his studio in Queens, NY. You might be interested to know that many of the designers who worked for Tiffany Studios were women.
Tell me more.
These two windows, produced by Tiffany Studios, show us dawn in springtime and sunset in autumn, a visual representation of the passage of time. If you get close you can see some of Tiffany's innovations in glass, like the way the multiple colors were swirled together while they were still molten liquid to create the painterly effect you see here. The windows were made in Corona, NY in 1905 for the Universalist Church of Our Father at Classon and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn. After this, they were purchased and installed by All Souls Universalist church in 1945. The Museum acquired them in 2014.
I'm reading the label on the Tiffany Dawn and Sunset Windows and wanted to know, what does annealing glass mean?
As molten glass is shaped, its internal pressure builds. This pressure is released through a slow cooling process called annealing, which prevents the glass from spontaneously breaking apart.
The process requires temperature-controlled kilns; because these windows are so large, Tiffany had to get new ovens built just for them.
Thank you so so much! Fascinating to learn.
Was this made by Tiffany?
Yes! It was made by Tiffany Studios and is attributed to the designer Agnes F. Northrop. The dynamic colors of the pieces of glass seen here are what set Tiffany Studios apart. Its founder, Louis Comfort Tiffany, worked with a team of chemists to develop new processes for coloring glass.
Louis Comfort Tiffany was the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of the Tiffany & Company known for silver and jewelry and still in operation today.
Are glass colors built out of primary colors like paints?
It is a very different process. You would have to mix the colors you wanted to blend to a certain extent beforehand, you would not be able to mix glass exactly like paint, since it is less forgiving, but the effect Tiffany was able to achieve was more freeform than was previously possible. Tiffany Studios employed teams of chemists to determine the proper chemicals and combinations of chemicals to add to the molten glass in order to produce the desired colors.
We have stained windows like this in St Michael’s Church in Geneseo, NY. Could they be Tiffany?
I just did a little digging and at least some of the stained glass windows at St. Michaels are indeed Tiffany (as well as William Morris and Pike Studios)!
It was popular in the late nineteenth century for newly wealthy Americans in smaller towns across the northeast to sponsor Tiffany windows in the local churches.