The Morse, a “glass symphony” that brings luxury art to the whole world
By: Latif Kassidi
Tags: Tiffany, Glass, Morse Museum, Museums, Art

Tiffany Art Glass at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida

Famous worldwide for hosting the most comprehensive and complete collection of the works of the American artist and industrial designer Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933), the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (Morse) in Winter Park, Florida, offers himself as an advocate of a luxury art accessible to the public.

Imminent stained glass windows, huge doors, ostentatious lamps, pieces of glass, ceramics, plaster, marble, jewelry and even a few American paintings of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century are some of the objects that make up the treasure of this institution of the center from Florida.

“The Morse is a symphony of richly colored glass; a feast for the eye and a lift for the spirit.”, told in a statement to Efe Laurence J. Ruggiero, actual director of this museum located just six miles (9 km) away from Orlando, the touristic capital of Florida.

Among these acquisitions were parts of Tiffany’s 1893 chapel for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (held to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World in 1492), a wing dedicated to objects recovered from Laurelton Hall, Tiffany’s property of Long Island (New York) that was destroyed by fire in 1957 and other works of this versatile artists.

Tiffany’s Chapel windows and electrolier

It is “the most comprehensive and most interesting collection of Tiffany anywhere” in the world, says Alice Cooney the Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, according to an email sent to Efe.

The museum, built on about 42,000 square feet of space, houses fifteen galleries in total that, in addition to those dedicated to Tiffany, each is marked by a theme.

“Revival and reform” revolves around eclecticism in the 19th-century environment of the decorative arts, while “Lamps and lighting” show the design of these as a work of art by Tiffany and his contemporaries.

Laurelton Hall at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art

The galleries “American arts and crafts” and “The flowering of American art pottery” illustrate the manufacture of ceramics in the United States and “Art Nouveau from Europe and America” is presented as a model of inspiration with contemporary examples of European glass and ceramics.

Likewise, the paintings and portraits from the Morse Collection offer enormous and extraordinary works and landscapes by Alan Dunn, Anders Monsen Askevold, Carducius Plantagenet Ream or Cecilia Beaux, among others.

The museum was founded by the designer and philanthropist Jeannette Genius McKean in 1942 and dedicated to her grandfather, Chicago industrialist Charles Hosmer Morse.

The museum was first located on the campus of Rollins College. There, in 1955, the McKeans organized the first exhibition of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany since the artist’s in 1933.

In 1957, Hugh McKean learned from Tiffany’s daughter that Tiffany’s estate, Laurelton Hall, had burned to ruin and with the help and support of his wife he buys everything that was left for the purpose of saving him, including the chapel and his award-winning windows lead glass.

Then the museum moved to its current location to officially open its doors in 1995 in order to allow the local and state community and also outside visitors to enjoy and learn about the luxurious art, which was the eternal dream of the couple McKean.

The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art from the corner in Winter Park, Florida

“Judging art is no trouble at all. Everyone does it. Understanding art calls for time and thought. This is where the excitement and fun are,” said McKean, points out to Efe Director of Community Relations, Emily Margaret Sujka,

Indeed, the Morse maintains an exceptional balance between the cultural-tourist offer and the introduction of art to the local and international community in this small city founded in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (1881) by business magnates from the north of the country.

The museum, one of the most accessible in the state (Regular admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, $1 for students), does not receive any public funds to finance its annual operating budget.

Each year, approximately 73,000 visitors stop to admire the thousands of objects in the Morse collection, said Sujka.

Tiffany’s Chapel at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida

Loyal to its goal of bringing luxury art to everyone alike, the museum invites, this summer, at no cost, families “to explore the history of art pottery in America and discover the shapes, glazes, themes, and techniques that were once second to none in the world.”

This is the Museum’s free summer offerings for families targeted to children in kindergarten through fifth grade and their parents or guardians, according to a press release.

During the visits of Tuesday, June 18 and June 25 and July 9, 16 and 23, the museum will offer a gallery tour with a take-home activity.

This Tuesday’s program has been organized in support of the Museum’s major new exhibition, Earth into Art — The Flowering of American Art Pottery on display since October 16, 2018, to September 27, 2020.

While during the activities on Fridays, scheduled for June 21 and 28 and July 12, 19 and 26, a film will be screened and children will be able to enjoy an art activity.

Likewise, during the celebration of Independence Day on July 4th, the Morse Museum will open its doors free of charge to visitors as part of its participation, since 1995, in the City of Winter Park’s Independence Day festivities.

*(Article originally published in Spanish by EFE, ​the world’s largest Spanish-language news agency)