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Peonies Blowing in the Wind
Peonies Blowing in the Wind

Peonies Blowing in the Wind

Artist John La Farge (American, 1835 - 1910)
Date1889
MediumStained glass
DimensionsUnframed: 56 1/2 x 26 1/2 inches (143.51 x 67.31 cm)
Framed: 70 x 39 1/2 inches (177.8 x 100.33 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Enid and Crosby Kemper Foundation
Object numberF88-34
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 216
Collections
DescriptionPanel of finely leaded and plated glass depicts peonies in red, pink and white against a brilliant blue background. Amber-colored flowers against cream background form border around whole. Green glass divided into three section border at top and bottom.Exhibition History

American Decorative Art and the Works of the Society of American Etchers, Messrs. Johnstone, Norman and Co.'s Galleries, London, 1889, no. 5.

L'Exposition Universelle Paris, France, 1889, no cat.

Made in America: Ten Centuries of American Art, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, February 5 - April 30, 1995; The Saint Louis Art Museum, June 16 - September 4, 1995; The Toledo Museum of Art, October 13, 1995 - January 7, 1996; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, March 17 - May 19, 1996; The Carnegie Museum of Art, July 6 - September 22, 1996, unnumbered.

Five Centuries of Flowers in Art, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, September 9, 2007 – March 9, 2008, no cat.

American Art and the East, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, January 30 – April 30, 2009, no cat.

Gallery Label
This vibrantly colored stained glass window achieves the illusionistic effects of a painting but with a luminosity and richness of color unattainable with oil paint. Enhancing the three-dimensional quality are sections of opalescent glass, a multicolored iridescent glass developed by John La Farge. Here, hues of red and pink meld together in the peonies' glowing petals, while deep greens and golden yellows suggest sun-dappled leaves. The window's design is based on Japanese hanging scrolls from La Farge's own collection and the borders emulate the scrolls' elaborate silk mountings. The artist created several peony windows; this is possibly the one exhibited at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle, where La Farge was awarded the Legion of Honor medal for his invention of opalescent glass.
Provenance

Unknown Collection, Glasgow;

Sold at Important 20th Century Decorative Arts, Christie's, Manson & Woods International Inc., New York, December 9th and 10th, 1988, Lot 461;

Purchased from Christie's by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1988.

Published References

Kenyon Cox, “Art in America: Two Specimens of La Farge’s Art Glass,” Burlington Magazine, (June 13, 1908): 182-84; 183 (repro.).

“REVIEWS”, Art and Auction (New York: Auction Guild, 1989), 140-141.

Donald Hoffman, “ARTS: A Vision of Beauty, Invention”, The Kansas City Star, (Sunday November 26, 1989, Section I): n.p.

Henry Adams, Handbook of American paintings in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, (Kansas City, Mo.: The Museum, 1991), 118-121; 119 (repro.).

Michael Churchman and Scott Erbes, High Ideals and Aspirations: the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1933-1993 (Kansas City, MO.: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 109.

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (Kansas City, MO.: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 239; 53 (repro.).

Henry Adams and Kathryn C. Johnson. Made in America: Ten Centuries of American Art, 1st ed. (New York: Lanham, Md.: Hudson Hills Press; National Book Network [distributor], 1995), 118 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott and Marjorie Alexander, eds. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (Kansas City, MO: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 167 (repro.).


 






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