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| A New Light on Tiffany | Eidelberg, Gray, Hofer |
Last month I was in Winter Park, Florida, for my second visit to the
Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. The museum is known primarily for its collection of Tiffany glass, and artifacts relating to Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Our family friend, Yvonne, had renewed my own interest in Tiffany by sharing two recent books about Clara Driscoll, the woman at the top of this posting.
A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls, by Martin Eidelberg, Nina Gray and Margaret K. Hofer is a fine companion piece to the novel,
Clara and Mr. Tiffany, by Susan Vreeland.
Both books describe how Clara Driscoll (1861-1944) was a driving force behind the mosaic glass creations that we most often associate with Louis Comfort Tiffany, despite the fact that she got almost no credit in her own lifetime.
For those of you who are addicted to emails and tweeting, it might be worth noting that Clara Driscoll is finally getting her due because she wrote voluminous letters about her work, letters that were shared and saved by her family.
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| Dragonfly Lamp | objectsnotpaintings.blogspot.com |
Through the letters, which include designs and accounts of meetings, it is apparent that Driscoll came up with the idea for Tiffany's iconic mosaic glass lamp shades. She produced hundreds of glass designs for everything from windows to screens to desk accessories, and some of those designs are among Tiffany's most famous pieces. Yet the only credit she ever got was when exposition juries required that every member of a design team be mentioned. (For that reason, Clara did get credit for the Dragonfly Lamp pictured above, which recently sold at auction for $554,500.)
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| Butterfly Lamp, by Clara Driscoll | www.svreeland.com |
The Women's Glass Cutting Department was a separate branch of the Tiffany company, staffed by dozens of women who were all managed by Clara Driscoll. Driscoll met on a near-daily basis with Louis Comfort Tiffany, who usually sided with her as she battled her male counterparts, who often gave her little respect. Despite the fact that today she probably would have merited pay worthy of a full partner, Clara Driscoll earned a modest income and lived most of her adult life in boarding houses. She was required to leave the company when she married.
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| Wisteria Lamp, by Clara Driscoll | michellemjones.com |
Clara Driscoll ended her life painting silk scarves, none of which have survived. But her letters did survive, and they have recently shed light on a creative genius who left a big mark on our collective conscious.
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| Clara Driscoll and fellow Tiffany employee Joseph Briggs in 1902 | Metropolitan Museum of Art |
To read an excellent account of how two historians simultaneously discovered the extent of Clara Driscoll's work and influence, sleuthing through those letters, I direct you to a New York Times article,
here.
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Clara Driscoll is not to be confused with a lady of the same name and the same time who was the Texas philanthropist who saved the Alamo from demolition. That's another interesting story.
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Mark this is so fascinating! I do want to read more about Clara. I can see she was incredibly talented. She had to leave the company when she married!!?
ReplyDeleteI hope you will Come and enter my amazing Cross Bottle Guy Giveaway!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
Hi, Karena - Clara Driscoll was not only talented, but apparently also a very good manager who held her own against those who chipped away at her. But in those days, it was common practice throughout business to require women to leave a company upon marriage.
DeleteHello Mark:
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed a most interesting discovery. It seems almost incredible that Clara Driscoll could have contributed so much to the Tiffany firm and yet had merited such scant attention.And, to have had such a poor financial reward for her efforts and contributions is all rather sad.
She was indeed an incredibly influential creative talent.
The one thing that comes across from reading Clara's story is that she had great respect for Mr. Tiffany and was very proud to be associated with him. She knew that he also had respect for her opinions and talent, and perhaps that was enough for her. But wouldn't it be nice if there was a universal law that recognized talent in its own time?
DeleteThe wisteria lamp always makes me gasp at its beauty. Has it reached iconographic status yet? It has in my book.
ReplyDeleteHi, Michael - The irony of this story is that the interest in Clara Driscoll will reignite the interest in Tiffany, whose popularity has flowed and ebbed in cycles.
DeleteMost of the great Tiffany lamps are now labeled "probably designed by Clara Driscoll." We know that the Wisteria Lamp was definitely designed by Clara Driscoll, which would indicate that it either won a major award in her time, or that she detailed to her family how she had designed it. It's certainly iconic in my book.
People are starting to take a more sophisticated view of large atelier environments, and realize that complex operations such as Tiffany Studios could not represent only one person. By understanding the complexity of different contributions, we can enjoy the final products all the more. We can be grateful the Clara Driscoll's story has been so beautifully preserved and presented.
ReplyDeleteAs collectors, we should start looking for those scarves!
--Road to Parnassus
Hello, Parnassus -
DeleteWouldn't it be interesting to authenticate one of those scarves and put it up for auction? I wonder what it would bring?
My first job was in an atelier, though it was simply called an art studio. We were artists who collaborated on ads and brochures for advertising agencies, decades before the computer. Each member of the group specialized in a particular art form — illustrating, air brushing, hand lettering, model-making, etc. — and we all pooled our talents on final products. It was an interesting way of working, and it provided many learning experiences. And in today's digital world, it seems like a hundred years ago!
If women work hard today or have artistic talent they are much more likely to be rewarded and have recognition. However, in the past this was not so true.
ReplyDeleteIt is good that her artistic ability is now known.
Looking at Tiffany lamps and windows, I have always felt that there was a femininity to the them.
How nice it is that you and others have been able to highlight her huge contribution.
Thank you, Rosemary. I almost named this posting "Tiffany's Glass Ceiling," but I realized that readers from places not familiar with that idiom would be very puzzled!
Deletefascinating, utterly.
ReplyDeleteHello, Dilettante - This is all relatively new; it will be interesting to see whether Clara Driscoll's story grows further, or if she is to become merely a foot note to Louis Comfort Tiffany. "Clara and Mr. Tiffany," by Susan Vreeland, has been on the Best Seller list, so Clara's off to a good start.
DeleteI am always amazed at the beauty and complexity of the Wisteria lamps. To this day I draw inspiration from Clara's ability to create such an organic feeling from such stark objects: glass and metal.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to read the book but have been hearing lots about it, I'll have to put that one on the list.
Kudos to the great blog and the great article.
Thank you for visiting, Ryan, and for your comment. I hope you get a chance to someday visit the Tiffany art at the museum in Winter Park, Florida. Perhaps it will eventually devote an entire gallery to Clara Driscoll and her "girls," which would certainly be appropriate!
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