Alice Carmen Gouvy (1863-1924), Design studies, Skunk cabbage, ca. 1901. Watercolor and graphite on paper, 15¾ x 29¼ in. (2020-007).

The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art recently acquired the watercolor of designer and artist Alice Carmen Gouvy, who was employed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The watercolor and graphite on paper, a design study of a skunk cabbage, was originally painted around 1901.

While Tiffany employed many designers, only a handful were selected to work in the enamel department, what was sometimes referred to as “little Arcadia” for the creative freedom the artists and designers were given. “Alice Gouvy’s skunk cabbage reflects the special atmosphere of Tiffany Studios’ Enamel Department;  here Tiffany’s artists studied specimens firsthand and hung their designs on the workshop’s walls,” says Jennifer Perry Thalheimer, curator and collection manager at the Morse Museum. “This creative environment spurred a period of particular ingenuity (1902-1907) that eventually produced unique enamels, jewelry and early pottery vessels, marking a high point in these materials for Tiffany Studios.”

Painted from two different angles, Gouvy’s delicate watercolor gives viewers a more well-rounded sense of the overall appearance of the cabbage plant. Opening March 2, 2021 at the Morse Museum, Watercolors from Louis Comfort Tiffany’s “Little Arcadia” will showcase this piece and dozens of others. —

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