A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) is celebrated today as one of the most influential designers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Recent scholarly books and exhibitions have explored Tiffany's creative genius and marketing savvy, as well as his success in elevating the status of decorative arts in America. Though the products of Tiffany Studios, from stained glass windows and lamps to metalwork, enamels, furniture, and textiles, have been justly acclaimed for their artistic value, the process of creating these objects and the individuals involved have remained mostly unknown. A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls presents celebrated 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. This new book and the accompanying exhibition provides new information on the design, production, and marketing of Tiffany lamps gleaned from recently discovered correspondence written by Clara Driscoll, head of the so-called "Women's Glass Cutting Department" at Tiffany Studios. The authors explore the role of the "Tiffany girls," the 27 women responsible for making Tiffany lamps, windows, mosaics, and other luxury goods, and their talented leader and designer, Clara Driscoll. At the heart of the book are over 50 Tiffany lamps, windows, ceramics, enamels and mosaics, supplemented by a wide array of related documents and archival photographs. Also included are biographies of all the women workers: the "Tiffany Girls."

Margaret K. Hofer is Curator of Decorative Arts at the New-York Historical Society where she has worked with the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany lamps since 1993.