The Delaware Art Museum presents
In Company with Angels:
Seven Tiffany Windows

This is an exhibition of the stained glass angels made in 1902 for a Swedenborgian church in Cincinnati that were displaced when the church was razed in 1964. The Swedenborgian faith is a Christian tradition, based on the writings of 18th century scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, that teaches: the purpose of human life is to prepare to live as angels in heaven, angels are present and contribute to daily life on Earth, and “inwardly, a person is in company with angels, though unaware.”

For 37 years, the boxed eight-foot-tall windows remained in parishioners’ garages and basements in Ohio, traveled in a U-Haul to a Swedenborgian property in Pennsylvania, and rested there in a barn until 2001, when a newly-arrived minister opened the unmarked boxes. Stunned, she called stained-glass expert Arthur Femenella, who recognized Tiffany’s opalescent glass, design, and technique through decades of grime. Church archives confirmed the attribution. In 2004, restoration of the angels began. Cleaning of the last window revealed Tiffany’s signature. In Company with Angels, a nonprofit organization, is now dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of the windows.

The windows will be on view at the Delaware Art Museum from September 23, 2007, through January 31, 2008. They portray the angels from the Book of Revelation, who address the early Christian churches of Asia. Each full-length angel holds a gift that God promises if the churches reform their ways. Each angel has a slightly different stance and type of garment, lending individuality to a group united by their flame-like wings against the sky.

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) achieved dramatic effects of color, light, and texture in glass by several innovative means. Fusing different colors of glass during the manufacture gave colors an iridescent glow. Pulling and twisting the molten glass produced folds simulating fabric. Thick chunks polished smooth (“glass jewels”) added depth, and faceted edges allowed light to bend and reflect.

At the turn of the 20th century, Tiffany windows were in great demand for American churches. Given that an estimated 50 percent of Tiffany’s church windows have been lost, re-discoveries—especially of a series—like that of the seven angels is significant for the history of American glass.

Exhibition organized by In Company with Angels. Photography by Douglas A. Lockard.