GILDED NEW YORK-MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

Explore the visual culture of elite New York in the late-19th and early- 20th centuries.
The Museum’s Tiffany & Co. Foundation Gallery, Gilded New York explores the city’s visual culture at the end of the 19th century, when its elite class flaunted their money as never before. In New York, this era was marked by the sudden rise of industrial and corporate wealth, amassed by such titans as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould, who expressed their high status through extravagant fashions, architecture, and interior design. The exhibition presents a lavish display of some 100 works, including costumes, jewelry, portraits, and decorative objects, all created between the mid-1870s and the early 20th century. It was a time when New York became the nation’s corporate headquarters and a popular Ladies’ Mile of luxury retail establishments and cultural institutions helped launch the city to global prominence.

On the left: Fancy dress costume by Maison Worth representing “Electric Light,” 1883 • Worn by Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt II to the Vanderbilt Ball • Museum of the City of New York
Right:Satin damask wedding gown by Maison Worth, 1878 • Worn by Annie Schermerhorn • Museum of the City of New York

Tiffany & Co., Brooch, ca. 1900 • Gold, sapphires, zircons, enamelTiffany & Co. brooch, 1900 • Platinum, gold, diamond, pearls, ruby, garnet, sapphireTiffany & Co. necklace, 1904 • Gold, diamond, pearls, turquoise, enamelMarcus & Co., Necklace, 1900 • Gold, natural pearls, demantoid garnet, enamel 

                                                                       

Tiffany & Co., Pendant brooch, ca. 1900 • Platinum, diamond, sapphire • Museum of the City of New York

Folding fan by Duvelleroy, c. 1900 • Painted silk, feathers, mother-of-pearl • Museum of the City of New York

Michele Gordigiani, “Cornelia Ward Hall and Her Children,” 1880 • Oil on canvas • Museum of the City of New York, Bequest of Mrs. Martha Hall Barrett, 61.155.1