HOSMER MORSE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART TO PRESENT TIFFANY EXHIBITION

THE LAST MAJOR ART WORKS FROM THE ESTATE OF AMERICAN ARTIST LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY WILL GO ON PERMANENT DISPLAY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FEBRUARY AT FLORIDA'S CHARLES HOSMER MORSE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART IN ORLANDO. A NEW 6,000 SQUARE FOOT GALLERY AT THE WINTER PARK MUSEUM WILL BE OPENED ON 19.FEBRUARY, NEARLY 54 YEARS AFTER A FIRE DESTROYED LAURELTON HALL, THE TURN OF THE CENTURY NEW YORK HOME OF TIFFANY, WHO WAS BEST KNOWN FOR HIS LEADED GLASS WORKS. THE GALLERY WILL HOUSE THE SURVIVING COMPONENTS OF THE ESTATE, INCLUDING THE REASSEMBLED DAFFODIL TERRACE, AN OUTDOOR ROOM MARKED BY EIGHT 11 FOOT MARBLE COLUMNS TOPPED WITH WREATHS OF GLASS FLOWERS AND COVERED BY A CEDAR, TILE AND GLASS CEILING. OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS, THE MUSEUM HAS BEEN DEVELOPING THE NEW GALLERY DESIGNED TO DISPLAY TIFFANY'S REMAINING LARGE-SCALE WORKS IN A MANNER THAT SUGGESTS THEIR PLACEMENT AT HIS ESTATE, AS WELL AS HIS LOVE OF NATURAL BEAUTY AND HIS STYLE OF BLURRING THE LINE BETWEEN INDOORS AND OUTDOORS. THE GALLERY WILL ALSO INCLUDE 250 OBJECTS FROM OR RELATED TO THE ESTATE. THE DAFFODIL TERRACE WILL BE DISPLAYED IN A GLASSED-IN ALCOVE TO RECREATE THE FEEL OF TEH ORIGINAL OUTDOOR SPACE. AS IT DID AT LAURELTON HALL, THE TERRACE FLOWS DIRECTLY INTO A RECREATION OF THE ESTATE'S DINING ROOM, WHICH INCLUDES A NEARLY 14 FOOT HIGH MOSAIC MANTELPIECE, 25 FOOT LONG ORIENTAL CARPET AND A SUITE OF SIX LEADED-GLASS WISTERIA TRANSOMS. THE ADJOINING LIVING ROOM FEATURES FOUR LEADED-GLASS PANELS DEPICTING THE FOUR SEASONS, WHICH WON A GOLD MEDAL AT THE EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE IN PARIS IN 1990, AND FIVE TURTLEBACK-GLASS HANGING LAMPS. HIGH F MCKEAN, AN ARTIST WHO HAD BEEN A FELLOW IN RESIDENCE AT THE ESTATE, RESCUED THE WORKS FROM THE WRECKAGE OF THE 1957 FIRE ALONG WITH HIS WIFE JEANNETTE, WHO FOUNDED THE FLORIDA MUSEUM NAMED FOR HER GRANDFATHER, CHARLES HOSMER MORSE. THE MCKEANS SPENT FOUR DECADES TRACKING DOWN AND BUYING MISSING PIECES THAT HAD BEEN SOLD, AUCTIONED OR GIVEN AWAY. THE TERRACE AND MANY OF THE OBJECTS WERE WAREHOUSE UNTIL 2006 WHEN THE MORSE MUSEUM COLLABORATED WITH THE NEW YORK METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART TO UNPACK AND RESTORE THE COLLECTION AND CREATE A SIX MONTH TEMPORARY EXHIBIT THAT HAD BEEN SEEN BY ABOUT 350,000 PEOPLE AT THE MET. THE MORSE MUSEUM ALSO HOUSES THE TIFFANY CHAPEL, A BYZANTINE-INSPIRED INTERIOR CREATED FOR THE 1893 WORLD'S COLOMBIAN EXPOSITION IN CHICAGO, AND AN EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF TIFFANY POTTERY, JEWELRY, ECCLESIASTICAL WORKS AND LEAD-LINE DRAWINGS WHICH SERVED AS PATTERNS FOR HIS GLASS WORKS.