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Met Museum Analysis 

 

     The artwork I chose to discuss is, Autumn Landscape, created by Louis Comfort Tiffany in New York City in 1923-1924.  Out of of the timeless pieces I saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this particular one stood out to me. I couldn’t take my eyes off the array of rich, vibrant colors used which were used to depict the fall foliage and its surrounding nature. It was as if you could open the windows and step right into the landscape. There are no barriers between the artwork and the person viewing it. I was immediately drawn into it. The enormity of the work in proportion to the person looking at the piece also adds to its realism. 

 

    The entire artwork was created using glass developed at Tiffany Studios. Paint was not used at all, not even to show texture. Instead, the molten glass was wrinkled. Tiny flakes of glass were placed into the surface of the glass to create various effects, such as speckles, and colors. To add depth, layers of glass were put on the back of the window, using a technique known as plating. (tour guide) 

 

    The piece is separated into three panels with a decorative top, giving the illusion of looking out of a window onto a beautiful autumn day. The vertical format, along with the luminosity of the bright golden sun, drew my eye directly to the center panel. That brightness is in direct contrast with the darkened silhouette of the mountains below it, and highlighted by the darkened shadows also help to create the illusion of depth. The way the sun is casting its light on everything surrounding it can lead the viewer to believe that it is either in the process of rising or setting. The sun illuminates the orange, red, and shade of deep rose, offsetting the deep blues and purples of the mountains surrounding it. There are two waterfalls in the center panel of the piece, one in the foreground and the other further back, which also helps to draw the viewer’s eye to this panel.  The light blue, green, and gold of the waterfalls make them seem as though they are flowing and are crystal clear. The transparency and fluidity of the water is in complete contrast to the opaqueness and solidity of the surrounding rocks that are jutting out all around the waterfalls. There is a small, placid pond directly in the middle of the two waterfalls, connecting them, and the light from the sun is highlighting the teal green and gold colors used to create the pond. Its glass pieces are large and smooth. 

 

    The sky directly above the sun has an endless array of hues such as red, orange, gold, pink, purple and blue; all which make it look incredibly realistic. Tiffany even managed to incorporate a few fluffy clouds at the very top of the panel. He is renowned for his remarkable, colorful skies and for not just making them one solid color. It looks as though the sky was painted using watercolor, and not created with glass. 

 

    Tiffany uses different shapes of glass pieces to create each subject depicted in the piece. For example, the leaves on the trees are created using small, rounded pieces of glass. The trunks of the trees and branches are made of glass that is cut into long, slim pieces.  The rocks and boulders are large, rounded pieces of glass. Both of the waterfalls are created using pieces of glass that are curved and long, which gives a feeling of fluidity and movement. The sky, lake, and mountains in the background are all created using long, flat panels of glass which evokes a vastness and also creates a seamless and smooth look.  At the very top of the piece, Tiffany uses curved pieces of glass to depict light, airy clouds. 

 

    The colors of the leaves on the trees range from pale green, to gold, and orange and red. The brightest leaves by far are those of the small tree in the right panel’s foreground. Since this is the shortest tree and the only one in the foreground, it is logical that its colors are the most vibrant. Its leaves are a mix of deep crimson, orange, gold, yellow and bright green. The glass pieces are small and speckled, giving each leaf a multi-dimensional, realistic look. Most of the leaves are translucent, although the deeper toned ones are opaque. Also in the right panel of the piece, above the small tree in the foreground, there are taller trees which nearly reach to the top of the frame. These are created using deep, rich, gold, orange, brown and mossy green colors, again mixing translucency with opaqueness. 

 

    The left panel has what appears to be a small birch tree which can be identified by the dark rings on the bark making up the trunk of the tree. The leaves consist of small, yellow, green and orange pieces of glass. The grandest tree of the entire piece can also be found on the left panel, with its roots planted in the foreground, and its leaves reaching all the way to the top of the sky. This is the only tree that also branches out into the top portion of the sky into the center panel. It nearly encompasses the entire left frame vertically. Its leaves range in color from deep red, gold and orange and consist of tiny pieces of glass to help depict that the leaves are distant. Some of the leaves that branch out into the center panel are translucent, and the background colors of the sky illuminate them. The trees all along either side of the left and right panels help to frame out the middle panel, drawing the viewer’s eye directly to the center of the artwork.