A chandelier is often the centerpiece of a ballroom, salon, or hall–the glittering, crystalline fixture transforming the room into a place of ceremony and grandeur. Notable examples throughout history include the chandelier in the auditorium at the Palais Garnier and the 4.5-ton crystal masterpiece at the Dolmabahçe Palace. These grand specimens make it hard to imagine that the forebear of such fixtures was of a more humble make. But, the Getty collection in Los Angeles holds one of the oldest “chandeliers” on record: an example from the 1st century B.C. to the 4th century A.D. that consists of a circular terracotta tube base with six upturned nozzles that once held lit candles. By the European medieval era, these fixtures had a more sophisticated look. They evolved into cross- or ring-shaped frames made from sturdier materials like wood and metal, and as seen with the famed Hezilo and Azelin wheel chandeliers at the Hildesheim Cathedral, appeared like oversized crowns due to their ornamental decorations. The chandelier then went through a chimeric phase in fifteenth-century Germany with the lusterweibchen, which is made to appear like a horned human-animal hybrid floating in mid-air.
The glittering chandeliers that modern eyes will recognize began to appear in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Expensive rock crystal versions shone in spaces of great wealth and importance like the Palace of Versailles, as other privileged owners found more “affordable” options with glass and lead-crystal variations. “These chandeliers were more than just mere lighting appliances,” Elizabeth Hilliard explains in her book Chandeliers (2001). “They were works of art…the chandelier was always an expression of status.”
The chandelier’s cultural association with wealth, class, and much more is currently on the minds of artists exhibiting at the City University of New York (CUNY) in the exhibition Incandescence: The Chandelier in Contemporary Art. Just as a crystal light fixture can make a grand statement in any room, Incandescence establishes a large presence by stationing itself across three of CUNY’s campuses in the Bronx and Manhattan with art made by four dozen artists: Lehman College Art Gallery, Shirley Fiterman Art Center, and Hall of Fame Art Gallery.
A survey of Incandescence will find that there’s more to a chandelier than its beauty. Through a selection of abstract and figurative pieces—some on canvas while others are literal interpretations—the exhibition critiques and displaces the chandelier’s upscale association and glittering past with antithetical messaging that explores issues such as oppression, populism, and its present-day status as an item of consumerism. This dialogue, according to CUNY, “exploits tensions between ‘high’ and ‘low,’ particularly through questions of taste.”
Such a dichotomy can be seen in Beth Katleman’s Carnivale (2024), which is on view at the Shirley Fiterman Gallery. The New York-based artist’s signature stark-white unglazed biscuit porcelain makes up a cast of characters decorating this ornate chandelier. Children balance on top of wild animals while a clown with a money bag pours coins as a hunky, scantily-clad man—sourced from a bachelor party cake—lounges against a tree. Small islands that house this cacophony are strung together with beads and flowers as an equally diverse assortment of characters floats in between. “I like the idea of my work floating, I’ve always tried to create that sensation of lightness and movement and this immersive idea of entering into this world,” Katleman explains. “And I think that bringing it off the wall and having the objects float allows that to happen more.”
Inspiration for the island’s occupants came from Sèvres tabletop figurines and 18th-century wallpaper depicting exotic scenes of wild animals. However, upon closer inspection, these sculptures have a more humorous, modern touch than their Rococo predecessors. The artist sourced her subjects from 1950s toys and pop culture ephemera, cast them in plaster, and then sculpted them in porcelain. “I’m transforming a very cheap object with tremendous labor and meticulousness into something, giving it a little bit more love and dignity. This object is very beautiful from a distance, and when you’re getting close, it’s kind of operating at a different level.”
Carnivale and other works can be viewed at the Shirley Fiterman Art Center until January 4, and the exhibition at the Lehman College Art Gallery will be available till January 18. The artwork at the Hall of Fame Art Gallery will close after January 24.
Incandescence: The Chandelier in Contemporary Art • Lehman College Art Gallery • to January 18, 2025 • Shirley Fiterman Art Center at BMCC • to January 4, 2025 • Hall of Fame Art Gallery at BCC • to January 24, 2025 • cuny.edu
