Monday 1 December 2008Publication shines a new light on Tiffany
A New Light on Tiffany
London-based fine art publisher, D Giles Limited, in collaboration with the New-York Historical Society, is proud to announce the reprint of its major new illustrated book, which won the Henry Allen Moe Prize 2008. A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls reveals the turn-of-the-century New York women who created many of Tiffany Studios' celebrated decorative objects, and includes beautiful colour images of over 50 Tiffany lamps, windows, mosaics, enamels, and ceramics, as well as pages of newly discovered correspondence written by designer Clara Driscoll.
“The inspiration for this exhibition and the book was the recent discovery by Nina Gray and Martin Eidelberg of Clara Driscoll's letters,” said New-York Historical Society Museum Director Linda Ferber. “Louis C. Tiffany's leaded-glass windows, lamps, and other luxury objects have long been hailed as icons of American design. The correspondence reveals that many of these celebrated works, long presumed to be designed exclusively by Tiffany in his role as artistic director, were actually conceived by Clara Driscoll and executed by her staff of young women.”
Clara Driscoll’s letters, discovered in 2005 at the Queens Historical Society and Kent State University Library, have been a goldmine of exciting new information. A first-hand description of the inner workings of Tiffany Studios, they reveal previously unknown details about the design and production of Tiffany lamps and other objects, and comprise the only known first-person account of the day-to-day activities at Tiffany Studios.
A New Light on Tiffany celebrates the contributions of the Ohio-born designer Clara Driscoll (1861-1944), head of Tiffany Studios’ Women’s Glass Cutting Department. Driscoll’s correspondence reveals that she was responsible for many of the firm's most iconic lamps, including the Wisteria, Dragonfly, and Butterfly, as well as numerous other objects made with glass, bronze, and mosaic. Colour plates of these objects are supplemented by archival photographs and documents.
In addition to designing, Driscoll managed a large department of young women, known as the “Tiffany Girls,” who specialized in selecting and cutting glass for windows, shades, and mosaics. The book will present the renowned works of Tiffany Studios in an entirely new context, focusing on the women who labored behind the scenes to create the masterpieces now inextricably linked to the Tiffany name.
As co-author and curator Margaret K. Hofer explains, “Clara Driscoll was the hidden genius behind many of Louis C. Tiffany's designs. We are thrilled to be telling the story of this remarkable woman, primarily through her own words. This exhibition and the accompanying catalog represent a great step forward in the scholarship of Tiffany Studios.”
The opening chapter of the book focuses on objects designed by Clara Driscoll—from the early and experimental Deep Sea lamp to the popular Wisteria model—and reveals steps in the design and manufacturing process previously unknown to scholars. In addition to lampshades, this chapter includes other Driscoll designs incorporating Tiffany’s own glass, including mosaic-clad lamp bases, tea screens and mosaic desk sets. The second chapter examines Driscoll’s role as manager of the Women’s Glass Cutting Department, discusses the role of women within the larger context of the firm, and reveals the tension between the men’s and women’s departments. The final chapter explores Clara’s experience as a single working woman in New York City at the turn of the century, as vividly described in her letters. An exemplar of the era’s “New Woman,” Clara took full advantage of the city’s cultural and leisure offerings, from the museums and theaters to the parks and bicycle paths.
The volume also features brief biographies of the women designers, selectors, and glass cutters associated with Tiffany Studios.
The Authors:
Martin Eidelberg is Professor Emeritus of Art History at Rutgers University. He has published extensively on 20th-century decorative arts, particularly on Tiffany and turn-of-the-century design. He has written several major studies including Masterworks of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1989), Louis C. Tiffany, Meisterwerke des amerikanischen Jugendstils (1999), Behind the Scenes of Tiffany Glassmaking (2001), and The Lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany (2005). He was editor and co-author of What Modern Was, Design 1935-1965 (1991, winner of the George C. Wittenborn Prize).
Nina Gray is an independent curator and scholar specializing in 19th- and early 20th-century decorative arts and architecture. She was formerly Associate Curator of Decorative Arts and Assistant Curator of Architecture, Photographs and Prints at New-York Historical Society. Previous publications include Tiffany By Design, An In-Depth Look at Tiffany Lamps (2006), and “Tiffany’s Contemporaries, The Evolution of the American Interior Decorator” in Louis Comfort Tiffany, Artist for the Ages (2005), and “Decoration in the Gilded Age: The Frederick W. Vanderbilt Mansion” in Studies in the Decorative Arts (2003).Margaret K. Hofer is Curator of Decorative Arts at New-York Historical Society, where she has worked with the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany lamps since 1993. She has curated numerous exhibitions at New-York Historical Society, including Arriving in Style (2004), Home Sewn: Three Centuries of Stitching History (2003), Seat of Empire: Napoleon’s Fauteuil from Malmaison to Manhattan (2002), and In Search of Light: The Art of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1998). She is the author of The Games We Played: The Golden Age of Board and Table Games (2003) and co-author of Seat of Empire ( 2002).
A NEW LIGHT ON TIFFANY
Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls
200 pages, 8 ½” x 11” (279 x 216mm)
76 colour and 30 black-and-white illustrations, hardback with colour dust jacket
Text: Up to 44,000 words
ISBN: 978 1 904832 35 5 (13 digit)
Price: US$49.95/UK£27.00
Publication date: March 30th, 2007
Publisher: D. Giles Limited, London
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About the New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society holds one of the world’s greatest collections of historical artifacts, American art, and other materials documenting the history of the United States and New York, and is home to both one of the nation’s most distinguished independent research libraries and New York City’s oldest museum. The Society’s collections include more than 4.5 million American history-related documents, paintings, artifacts, and ephemera. Highlights of these holdings include: an exceptional collection of materials relating to slavery, the Civil War, and reconstruction; all of the original watercolours from John J. Audubon’s Birds of America; an outstanding collection of 18th -century newspapers; an extensive collection of Tiffany lamps; and far-ranging materials relating to the founding and early history of the nation. The strength and depth of these collections provides a vital foundation for the Society’s research and educational initiatives. For a full list of upcoming public programmes, please visit http://www.nyhistory.org.
