Chicago was the destination for our family girls’
trip this year. What a wonderful city! The architecture is amazing. After the great fire
of 1871, the city was rebuilt to rival the most beautiful city in the world,
Paris. The busy streets are wide. The
river waterways are well traveled and wind magnificently through the city. The
37 bridges that cross the river are counter-weighted so that they could be
raised by hand if necessary! Engineers have devised a system of channel locks
that have even reversed to flow of the river to keep the Chicago city pollution
from flowing into Lake Michigan. Wow!
But with all beauty, extreme
engineering and architecture above ground, you won’t believe what is beneath
the city! Deep underneath the city’s streets is a maze of corridors as complex as
the tunnels of an anthill. Locals know this amazing network of underground
corridors as the Chicago Pedway. The
construction of the tunnels began in 1951. The purpose was to keep the
pedestrians in the city separate and safe from the dangers of vehicles and foul
weather as they walked to their workplace, stores or school. Today the tunnel
system connects train stations, retail stores, hotels, apartment buildings,
skyscrapers and parks. A tunnel network that
winds underneath 40 city blocks!
 |
| Map of Chicago Pedway (Photo courtesy of Google Images and reddit.com) |
Basically, the Pedway is just a plain, functional concrete and tile tunnel system. But one particular section of this underground walkway unexpectedly became the highlight of my trip. Along the lower edge of Macy’s
underneath Randolph Street between State Street and Wabash Avenue, workers have permanently installed 22 American Victorian stained glass windows! Backlighting adds light and beauty for the passing pedestrians.
This unbelievably magnificent showcase of stained glass windows is on display as a result of a
joint effort between Macy’s, the Chicago Cultural Mile Association, Navy
Pier’s Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows and donors. All 22 windows are part of an exquisite 143 stained glass window collection owned by E. B. Smith and his wife Maureen which has been on display in the Smith Museum on Chicago's Navy Pier. But why put all this irreplaceable, delicate art in an underground passageway? The sponsors of this exhibit believe that art educates and that it adds beauty to public spaces. They believe that art should be easily accessible by all and should placed in locations where millions of everyday people pass as they go about their daily lives.
I love this concept! This coordinated, cooperative effort by these three Chicago businesses (as well as numerous donors) resulted in an art gallery that is free to the public.
The Macy's wall plaque at the center of this exhibit proclaims this showcase of stained glass windows as "pioneering." I get it that the exhibit is exciting, unique and inspiring, but "pioneering"? How were these American Victorian stained glass windows groundbreaking or original?
Victorian means that these windows were made during the Victorian Era when Queen Victoria ruled in Great Britain (1837-1901). But Victorian stained glass in Great Britain and Victorian stained glass in America were very different by the end of the era. In Great Britain, Victorian stained glass windows hung in churches and depicted religious subject matters. The figures, shapes and colors in these windows were painted on clear glass that had been cut and held in place with lead came. In America, this same style was used during the early Victorian Era, but by the late 1800s, American glass artists began to experiment with new and more creative glass forms and styles. They began to put their own original and secular spin on this previously European religious art style and they began to use colored and textured glass instead of painted glass. The 22 American Victorian stained glass windows in the Chicago Pedway were made in the late Victorian Era between 1880 to 1910 and were made for private residences and public buildings, not churches. They each depict a secular, nature based subject, rather than a religious one. These windows also have minimal or no painted glass in them. Instead, the artists of these windows primarily used colored glass to create their figures and shapes. The artists also employed a new and distinctly American technique in their works. They used colored glass and 3-D effects (faceted jewels, chunks of glass and layered glass) to raise the glass off of the flat window plane surface toward the audience or back behind the window plane to create depth and movement color. In time, glass artists in Europe began doing this as well and called it "Art Nouveau".
So who were these pioneering American glass artists? In the late 1800s, two stained glass artist contemporaries, Louis Comfort Tiffany and John LaFarge, sought better ways to present art in glass. Louis C. Tiffany, son the the famous jeweler Charles Tiffany, was a relentless force in the new glass art form emerging in the United States in the late 19th century. Tiffany disliked the "dull and artificial" look of brush strokes on glass. He felt he could not make an inspiring window with paint and wanted to create his figures using only the medium of glass. He worked for years with his chemist and furnace man to do what seemed impossible: combine metal oxides with molten glass to create colored glass. Finally he succeeded.
At the same time, John La Farge was also working tirelessly to discover ways to color glass to create glass art that would inspire and astound. He also succeeded in forcing metal oxides to combine with molten glass to color it. His patent for his opalescent glass was filed in 1879 and granted in 1880. Tiffany's patent for his opalescent and "favrile" (iridescent) glass was granted in 1881. They were neck and neck in the race for this groundbreaking and completely American art style. Because of the artistic competition between Tiffany and La Farge and their relentless pursuit of the "perfect" glass, we are able to admire and enjoy American stained glass windows like we find in the Chicago Pedway today.
These are my three favorite American Victorian stained glass windows from the Chicago Pedway. It was hard to narrow it down to just three because the vibrant and compelling colors and composition of each window was absolutely entrancing. I could have stayed and looked at the windows over and over for hours. I hope many of you will have the opportunity to visit this fabulous "secret" exhibit in Chicago.
All photos are my own unless otherwise noted.
References:
I love this concept! This coordinated, cooperative effort by these three Chicago businesses (as well as numerous donors) resulted in an art gallery that is free to the public.
The Macy's wall plaque at the center of this exhibit proclaims this showcase of stained glass windows as "pioneering." I get it that the exhibit is exciting, unique and inspiring, but "pioneering"? How were these American Victorian stained glass windows groundbreaking or original?
Victorian means that these windows were made during the Victorian Era when Queen Victoria ruled in Great Britain (1837-1901). But Victorian stained glass in Great Britain and Victorian stained glass in America were very different by the end of the era. In Great Britain, Victorian stained glass windows hung in churches and depicted religious subject matters. The figures, shapes and colors in these windows were painted on clear glass that had been cut and held in place with lead came. In America, this same style was used during the early Victorian Era, but by the late 1800s, American glass artists began to experiment with new and more creative glass forms and styles. They began to put their own original and secular spin on this previously European religious art style and they began to use colored and textured glass instead of painted glass. The 22 American Victorian stained glass windows in the Chicago Pedway were made in the late Victorian Era between 1880 to 1910 and were made for private residences and public buildings, not churches. They each depict a secular, nature based subject, rather than a religious one. These windows also have minimal or no painted glass in them. Instead, the artists of these windows primarily used colored glass to create their figures and shapes. The artists also employed a new and distinctly American technique in their works. They used colored glass and 3-D effects (faceted jewels, chunks of glass and layered glass) to raise the glass off of the flat window plane surface toward the audience or back behind the window plane to create depth and movement color. In time, glass artists in Europe began doing this as well and called it "Art Nouveau".
So who were these pioneering American glass artists? In the late 1800s, two stained glass artist contemporaries, Louis Comfort Tiffany and John LaFarge, sought better ways to present art in glass. Louis C. Tiffany, son the the famous jeweler Charles Tiffany, was a relentless force in the new glass art form emerging in the United States in the late 19th century. Tiffany disliked the "dull and artificial" look of brush strokes on glass. He felt he could not make an inspiring window with paint and wanted to create his figures using only the medium of glass. He worked for years with his chemist and furnace man to do what seemed impossible: combine metal oxides with molten glass to create colored glass. Finally he succeeded.
At the same time, John La Farge was also working tirelessly to discover ways to color glass to create glass art that would inspire and astound. He also succeeded in forcing metal oxides to combine with molten glass to color it. His patent for his opalescent glass was filed in 1879 and granted in 1880. Tiffany's patent for his opalescent and "favrile" (iridescent) glass was granted in 1881. They were neck and neck in the race for this groundbreaking and completely American art style. Because of the artistic competition between Tiffany and La Farge and their relentless pursuit of the "perfect" glass, we are able to admire and enjoy American stained glass windows like we find in the Chicago Pedway today.
These are my three favorite American Victorian stained glass windows from the Chicago Pedway. It was hard to narrow it down to just three because the vibrant and compelling colors and composition of each window was absolutely entrancing. I could have stayed and looked at the windows over and over for hours. I hope many of you will have the opportunity to visit this fabulous "secret" exhibit in Chicago.
All photos are my own unless otherwise noted.
References:
www.biography.com/people/louis-tiffany
www.chicagobusiness.com
www.chicagoculturalmile.com
www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20131206/loop/stained-glass-windows-installed-pedway-from-smith-museum
Eaton, Connie Clough. Tiffany Windows Stained Glass Pattern Book. Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, New York. 1997. (books.google.com)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pedway
Macy's Plaque on Pedway Wall
www.morsemuseum.org
www.chicagoculturalmile.com
www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20131206/loop/stained-glass-windows-installed-pedway-from-smith-museum
Eaton, Connie Clough. Tiffany Windows Stained Glass Pattern Book. Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, New York. 1997. (books.google.com)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pedway
Macy's Plaque on Pedway Wall
www.morsemuseum.org
www.publicartinchicago.com
"Stained Glass. A Journal Devote to the Craft of Painted and Stained Glass," Volume 74.Stained Glass Association of America, 1979. (books.google.com)
www.urbanglass.org
Yarnall, James L. John La Farge, A Biographical and Critical Study. Ashgate Publishing Company, Burlington, VT. 2012 (books.google.com)
"Stained Glass. A Journal Devote to the Craft of Painted and Stained Glass," Volume 74.Stained Glass Association of America, 1979. (books.google.com)
www.urbanglass.org
Yarnall, James L. John La Farge, A Biographical and Critical Study. Ashgate Publishing Company, Burlington, VT. 2012 (books.google.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment