Tiffany Glass Treasures on Display in New York City

 

Deep inside an industrial neighborhood in New York City is an ordinary building containing an extraordinary treasure. It is the home of The Neustadt Tiffany Glass Archive. It holds the world’s largest collection of Tiffany glass, with almost 250,000 pieces of all shapes and sizes.

Stained¹ glass has been produced for centuries. The colorful windows created during the 15th century are famous examples of the material’s beauty.

In the late 19th century American artist Louis Comfort Tiffany turned from painting to working with stained glass. He designed windows for homes and other buildings. The style became very popular.

Tiffany also made other stained glass objects, including lamps. The deep, rich colored glass would shine when the lamp was lit. The lamps became a major part of the Art Nouveau period of design, between about 1890 and 1930.

Tiffany became the first director² of design at his father’s now very famous jewelry³ store in New York City, Tiffany and Company.

Louis Tiffany designed several rooms in The White House and included stained glass. In 1911, he created a huge glass curtain for the main theater in Mexico City’s Palace of Fine Arts. Tiffany reportedly used one million pieces of glass in the work. It is considered his masterpiece⁴.

Collectors Egon and Hildegard Neustadt founded the collection in 1969. The Austrians had immigrated⁵ to America with little money. During the Great Depression⁶ in the 1930s, the couple found a Tiffany lamp in a used goods store in New York City. They paid $12.50 for the flower-shaped lamp.

A love for Tiffany glass

The Neustadts began to build a collection of more than 200 Tiffany light covers - each one a different flower or bird.

Later, when Tiffany’s closed down its glass factory, the Neustadts bought large pieces of colored glass at the factory.

Lindsy Parrott is the director of the collection.

"The thing that's really important about The Neustadts Tiffany Glass Archive is that it documents this unbelievable chapter in the history of stained glass."

Tiffany's factory was in the New York City area of Queens. The building containing the Tiffany Glass Archive will open for visitors later this year. There are pieces of wavy⁷ blue glass representing⁸ water, drapery glass that looks like flowing fabric⁹ and small glass jewels among the pieces.

The Neustadt Gallery will share some of these glass treasures in a show at the Queens Museum, beginning October 7.

I’m Caty Weaver¹⁰.

Words in This Story

stained glass – adj.colored glass that is used to make pictures and patterns in windows

cathedral– n.a very large church

lamp– n.a device¹¹ that produces light

curtain – n. a very large piece of cloth that hangs at the front of a stage and that is raised when a performance begins and lowered¹² when a performance ends

masterpiece– n.an artist’s greatest work

lamp– n.a device that produces light

chapter – n.the next stage or event

fabric – n.material used to make clothing and other things

1 stained   

adj.污染的，玷污的

参考例句：

• My dress was stained. 我的连衣裙弄上了污渍。
• The doors are then stained and varnished. 这些门还要染色涂清漆。

2 director   

n.主管，导演；主任；理事；董事；处长

参考例句：

• The director has taken the visitors off to his office.经理把客人带到他办公室去了。
• The new director is easy to get along with.新来的主任很好处。

3 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

4 masterpiece   

n.杰作，名著

参考例句：

• This book is a real masterpiece.这本书是真正的名著。
• Robinson Crusoe is Defoe's masterpiece.《罗宾逊漂流记》是笛福的杰作。

5 immigrated   

v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民

参考例句：

• He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
• Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句

6 depression   

n.压抑，抑制，沮丧；萧条，衰退

参考例句：

• During a depression money circulates slowly.在商业萧条时期，货币流通滞缓。
• He suffers from acute depression.他患有严重的忧郁症。

7 wavy   

adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• She drew a wavy line under the word.她在这个词的下面画了一条波纹线。
• His wavy hair was too long and flopped just beneath his brow.他的波浪式头发太长了，正好垂在他的眉毛下。

8 representing   

v.表现( represent的现在分词 )；代表；体现；作为…的代表

参考例句：

• a diagram representing a cross section of the human eye 表现人眼的剖面图
• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。

9 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

10 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

11 device   

n.器械，装置；计划，策略，诡计

参考例句：

• The device will be in production by the end of the year.该装置将于年底投入生产。
• The device will save much time and effort for us.这种装置会使我们节省大量时间和气力。

12 lowered   

v.（使）降低， （使）跌落( lower的过去式和过去分词 )；削弱；削减；减少

参考例句：

• Every evening at sunset the flag was lowered. 每天傍晚日落时都要降旗。
• She lowered her eyelids, then sprang them open. 她低垂着眼睑，然后突然睁开。 来自《简明英汉词典》