Morse Museum Celebrates New Tiffany Wing with Free Admission

A view of the Daffodil Terrace

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The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art has long been home to the world's largest collection of works by American artist and designer Louis Comfort Tiffany, and this Winter Park cultural institution recently opened a new wing in which to display the works in grand fashion (Louis was the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, the famed founder of Tiffany & Co.). The new space is meant to evoke the spirit of Laurelton Hall, an 84-room mansion that Tiffany built just after the turn of the century (1902-1905), and was destroyed by fire in 1957. The artwork contained therein includes paintings, design sketches and, most prominently, Tiffany's work with stained glass. To celebrate the opening of the new gallery space, the museum is offering free admission until March 20.

On my visit to the Tiffany Wing during the museum's press preview, I couldn't help but linger mostly around the Daffodil Terrace. The terrace was the entryway to Laurelton Hall, through which visitors passed upon arrival to the mansion. The 32' x 18' structure is supported by eight marble columns, each topped with a bouquet of glass daffodils hand-crafted by Tiffany himself. Just as stunning are the stenciled wood panels of the terrace's ceiling and glass tiles meant to mirror the leaves of the pear tree that grew through the terrace's central skylight at the original estate. My amazement at this and the other rooms of the exhibit was shared by more than 2,500 visitors during the wing's inaugural weekend.

Laurelton Hall is considered by many to be Louis Comfort Tiffany's masterpiece, as he oversaw nearly every aspect of the mansion's design and construction. Morse Museum founders Jeanette Genius McKean and Hugh F. McKean spent more than 50 years acquiring and restoring the hundreds of pieces that make up the Tiffany collection, which Curator Jennifer Perry Thalheimer calls "a treasure to have available in our community."

Tags: arts and culture | Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art | Louis Comfort Tiffany | orlando | Tiffany glass | Winter Park