Window: Peonies in the Wind
possibly 1889- reworked by 1908
John La Farge
Born New York City, New York, 1835; died Providence, Rhode Island, 1910
About 1876 . . . demands upon him for decoration led him to the careful observation of ancient stained glass, with a view to providing the modern world with something which might be to it what the windows of Reims Cathedral and Fairford Church were to the Middle Ages.
– Critic Russell Sturgis, "John La Farge," Scribner's Magazine, July 1899
Around 1876, John La Farge's interests in the decoration of architectural interiors led him to the study of historical stained glass, which would ever after fascinate him. His inventions in colored glass would represent La Farge's greatest creative achievement—and his breakthrough in this time-honored medium arguably stands as one of the most important and influential achievements of any artist of the nineteenth century.
For his work in glass, La Farge found models not in medieval types but in Japanese designs, which he admired and collected himself in ceramics, metalwork, prints and paintings. "Impressionistic" would seem an unlikely description to apply to any work created by artisans in rigidly structured, segmented, jig-saw-puzzle-like glass patterns, but the term aptly applies to this, La Farge's most experimental window design, which deliberately evokes a delicate Japanese ink and watercolor painting mounted on silk.
Let's explore La Farge's innovative, painterly use of transparent colored glass and his unprecedented translation of lyrical Japanese design motifs into a window for a modern Victorian-era interior.
Leaded glass with copper foil
56 x 26 in. (142.2 x 66 cm)
Acquired with donations from The Kreielsheimer Foundation, Ann and Tom Barwick, The Virginia Wright Fund, Ann H. and John H. Hauberg, The Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund, and the American Art Purchase Fund
87.143
Provenance: Estate of John La Farge, New York, 1910-1911; [American Art Galleries, New York, Catalogue of the Art Property. . . Estate of the Late John La Farge . . . , Mar. 29 - 31, 1911, lot no. 321 (as Peonies in the Wind. After Japanese design. Border.)]; sold to [Charles W. Kraushaar, New York], to 1947; [Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, Exhibition and Sale at Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., Apr. 9 - 10, 1947, sale no. 859, lot no. 205 (consigned by the estate of J.W. Kraushaar of Kraushaar Art Galleries, New York)]; sold to [Charles T. Henry Gallery, St. Petersburg, Florida], 1947-1962 (with another La Farge window in one lot); purchased from gallery by Dr. Barzillia R. Waldron, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1962-1963; sold to Melinda Pearlman, Asheville, North Carolina, 1963-1987; consigned to [Christie's, New York, Important Art Nouveau and Art Deco Glass, Nov. 21, 1987, sale no. 6500, lot no. 142 (as Peonies Blown in the Wind, with Kakemono Border and dated ca. 1893-1908, "The Property of A Lady")]; purchased at auction by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1987
Photo: Paul Macapia