Biography
John LaFarge, born in New York City in 1835 to an affluent French family, became a leading figure in the arts in New York in the late nineteenth century. LaFarge studied with Thomas Couture in Paris, as well as William Morris Hunt in Newport, Rhode Island. Best known for his exquisite mural paintings as well as his technical innovations in opalescent glass, La Farge produced large scale stained glass windows in America that rival those of European high Gothic cathedrals, consequently blurring the line between artist and craftsman. Interestingly, LaFarge began employing oriental motifs in his paintings and works in glass earlier than his European contemporaries such as Whistler. This premonitory tendency to combine trends from Japonisme and medieval motifs reinforces LaFarge’s important position in late nineteenth century art.