Riddle of America, The - Waldorf Research Institute

themes, was a weak draftsman, and frequently worked in a conservativefigural style. Puzzlingly, his work can be both strikingly original and dullyformulaic.La Farge used the visible brush stroke of the European tradition butmade his landscapes and flower paintings vibrant with the impression of realand specific light, air, and space. Reacting against American materialism andCivil War violence, he pioneered an introspective concern with the ambiguityof sensation, evoking the underlying, ever-shifting unity of inner and outerexperience, of subject and object. For this aspect of his painting, we couldcall him a “phenomenological realist” (in the sense of the phenomenologyof Henry and William James, whom La Farge inspired). His contemporariesacclaimed him as one of the greatest living artists.Opalescent Stained Glass and SculptureLa Farge was also the inventor of opalescent stained glass windows,a revolutionary development within the staid craft of stained glass. This wasa peculiarly American contribution to turn-of-the-century Western art andcraft. In contrast to the traditional, transparent “pot metal” or “antique”colored glass used in leaded windows since the Middle Ages, opalescentglass is cloudy and translucent. Opaque particles within the glass modulatethe opacity of the glass and scatter light, sometimes giving an iridescent effect.The layered structure allows two or more different colors to be blendedirregularly within one sheet of glass, giving rise to a variety of paint-likeeffects. La Farge developed the art of flat opalescent window glass in thequest for more sophisticated pictorial means in stained glass. Avoiding lightobscuringpainting on the glass, American artists used the new opalescentmedium to attain a luminosity and intensity of color greatly surpassing whatwas possible with the reflected light of pigment painting. Here the pigmentwas suspended in glass rather than in oil or water.In opalescent glass window murals, the milky texture, streaky softblends of color, subtle color modulations (useful for depicting roundedforms and receding space), and varied transitions in value caused by differingglass opacity and surface thickness can remind us of tonal effects ofoil painting, while the combination of colors from overplating two or moredifferently colored sheets of glass is reminiscent of multiple watercolorwashes. Moreover, an array of new techniques and applications further expandedthe paint-like repertoire of the American glass artist: cast or moldedglass forms, chipped and faceted glass nuggets and jewels, “confetti” glass,mottled glass, folded “drapery glass,” three-dimensionally patterned or111