Before I left for Chicago I did a lot of research online about what kind of architectural tours to take. On the Chicago Architecture Foundation tours there was a tour of Tiffany Treasures, why not, I love glass, this should be interesting.
What can I say but WOW! Of course I knew that Louis Comfort Tiffany created incredible stained glass – most notably lamps and large installations of large windows, but I knew nothing of the mosaics. Unfortunately, most of the research online doesn’t make much mention of the mosaics, but doesn’t highlight them.
So a visit to the Marquette Building was a real eye opener.
The lobby is incredible, marble, bronze and Tiffany Mosaics. They tell the story of Joliet and Marquette, early French Canadian explorer in the area. Here they are leaving on their journey – receiving blessings as they head out.
A number of things about these mosaics. They were designed by J.A. Holtzer, the mosaic designer for the Tiffany Glass company. What is really incredible is the glass itself. Louis experimented and created his own glass, this one – an opalescent, iridescent called Favrile. Once his factory shut down, the recipe for making this was lost.
The glass glows! I am a lover of mosaics and have never seen such luminescent images.
He created textured glass, like the grey example to the left of the hand, as well as glass that resembles volcanic glass. Ancient mosaics used small pieces of glass, Holtzer introduced the idea of cutting larger pieces – something I’m sure he learned from the stained glass.
This gentleman is a perfect example of using larger segments of glass, makes him really stand out against the traditional mosaic. The MB is the initials of the Marquette building.
Meeting the native tribes. The light bulbs are reproduction Edison bulbs. Although there is much more light now in the lobby, these are the type of bulbs that were installed originally. 
The death and burial of Marquette.
Interesting how the grey jacket arm is one piece of glass while the face is done in the traditional method. I guess there is something to be said about shading small details that is better done with tiny pieces of glass.
The bronze was incredible as well, so I have to include part of the revolving door.
At the Art Institute I did see an example of the lamps – that is what I was most familiar with, I’m hoping that anyone visiting Chicago also see the mosaics. The Marquette building is open to the public, so even if you can’t go on a docent led tour, you can see these. I visited on my first day, not realizing I’d be back. Since the MacArthur foundation owns the building, they hand out a very nice brochure as well. Also, in the back lobby there is a very interesting photo exhibit about the development of sky scrappers – but that is for another post.
Leah
