Mosaic Moments

THE DREAM GARDEN
1914-1915
Designed by Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966).
Constructed by Tiffany Studios
Favrile glass mosaic

Born in Philadelphia and educated at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Maxfield Parrish is best known for his idyllic landscapes and storybook illustrations. Parrish served on a committee convened by Cyrus Curtis and Edward W. Bok of the Curts Publishing Company to commission a mural for the lobby of their spectacular new building. After the first three artists chosen to paint the mural died, Parrish was asked to develop the design. At the same time, Bok decided that the mural would be executed by Tiffany Studios as a glass mosaic.
The mural was to be fifteen by forty-nine feet, and would embody the publisher’s desire to make art accessible to a wide public.

Detail of the mosaic “The dream garden” 1914-15
by Mayfield Parrish, constructed by Tiffany Studios New York

Parrish’s design was inspired by the real gardens he had built at his summer home, The Oaks, in Cornish, New Hampshire. The artist envisioned fantastical spaces where a visitor would chance upon places of tremendous beauty and solitude, improved by careful placement of foliage and flowers, large classical us, reflecting pools and fountains, walkways and steps. The masks in the foreground evoke Parrish’s love of theater, and lend the character of a stage to this ideal landscape.

Detail of the mosaic “The dream garden” 1914-15
by Mayfield Parrish, constructed by Tiffany Studios New York

The mosaic’s images are rendered in “favrile” glass, following a complex hand firing process developed by Tiffany to produce over 100,000 pieces of glass in 260 colors. Most of the glass was set in 24 panels in Tiffany’s New York studios. Thirty artisans worked for a year an the mosaic, and the installation of the panels in this location took six months. The finished work was hailed by art entics as a veritable wonder-piece” at the official unveiling in 1916. The amazing variety of opaque, translucent, and transparent glass, entirely lighted from the lobby, achieves perspective effects that have never been duplicated.
In 1998, after the death of John W. Merriam, who had owned it during his life, Philadelphia came close to losing The Dream Garden. Its proposed sale and removal from the City caused a vigorous public outcry. In response, the Pew Charitable Trusts made a grant of $3.5 million to purchase a private beneficial interest.