The collection of photographs, originally composed of 78 notebooks containing around 50 images each, preserves a visual history of Tiffany & Company’s iconic window displays, captured during the tenure of Gene Moore, the renowned artistic director. Spanning nearly 40 years, from 1955 to 1994, Moore's inventive and artistic genius transformed Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue windows into a stage for elegance and creativity, melding everyday objects with fine jewelry in a captivating dance of form and texture. This photographic archive, credited to photographers like Virginia Roehl, Nick Malon, and Fifth Avenue Display Photographers, showcases the evolution of Moore’s work and the collaborations with other designers during this golden era.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1910, Moore's artistic journey began with painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, yet it was his self-taught passion for design that led him to the world of display artistry. His first significant role at I. Miller in 1936 set the stage for a career that would elevate window displays to an art form. By 1945, his time at Bonwit Teller brought him into the orbit of Pop Art icons such as Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg, as Moore's vision began to transform the retail landscape.
When Moore joined Tiffany & Company in 1955, he was given the freedom to pursue beauty over sales, as per the directive of Walter Hoving, Tiffany’s chairman. Moore’s windows became the epitome of artistry, evoking wonder and telling stories without the need for direct salesmanship. His legacy lives on in these photographs, where common objects and precious jewels were curated to speak to one another in a language of visual harmony. Moore also designed pieces of jewelry and silverware, like the famous 1988 "Tiffany Circus," further solidifying his role as a multifaceted artist.
Beyond Tiffany’s, Moore's freelance work included collaborations with institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and the American Museum of Natural History. His autobiography, *My Time at Tiffany's*, published in 1990, is a testament to his remarkable career, while his window displays became immortalized in the 1996-1997 exhibition at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Today, the collection of photographs is housed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, a lasting tribute to Moore’s extraordinary influence on the art of display.
