Before the Tiffany lamp exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History closes permanently tomorrow, I toured it for the second time this week with a docent. I wanted to bathe in the beauty of it. Breathe in the creativity of it. Immerse myself in the time of it. Savor it. And I did. What an exquisite experience. Curated beautifully, the eighty lamps glow from within through opalescent, translucent glass shades, beckoning across dimly-lit rooms. Come close. Look. Appreciate.
Not only did our small group engage with the beauty of art, we also entered the world of New York in the early 1900s, the lives of Clara Driscoll, manager of the Women’s Glass Cutting Department at Tiffany Studios, and the Tiffany Girls. Previously unrecognized as the artist, Clara was identified in 2007 as the master designer behind the leaded glass lamps. Her round-robin letters to her mother, sisters and aunt included sketches of her projects. The signature piece opening the exhibit is one of several dragonfly lamps based on Clara’s original design. Dragonflies, heads down, wings connected, circle the bottom edge of the lamp shade. Droplets of water, clear, colored jewels of glass, rain down above them. Louis Comfort Tiffany sent one to Paris for an exhibition. They refused to display it without crediting the designer. Had letters and the Paris exhibition not revealed Clara’s identity, Mr. Tiffany, her employer, would have been credited with her work. The exhibit shines “A New Light on Tiffany,” the role of Clara Driscoll.
Clara was inspired by nature. The lamps depict peonies, daffodils, wisteria, poppies, geraniums, nasturtiums, butterflies and spider webs among apple tree blossoms. Glass for vivid red poinsettias was the most expensive because its production required the use of gold.
Tiffany lamp bases, cast in bronze, were also inspired by nature – twigs, branches, lotus pods. Since New York was not yet completely electrified, early lamp bases were oil containers; later ones accommodated electric cords.
Tiffany’s primary focus was making stained-glass windows and mosaics. The lamps were an afterthought, created from leftover pieces of glass. Lamps were sold for $200-$600 at a time when a new Model T could be purchased for $500, the average annual wage for a man. Today, Tiffany lamps can command $100,000 apiece. Clara earned a top wage for women, and more than men, as manager of Tiffany Studios - $35 a week. Subsidized by the wealth of Louis Tiffany’s father, the glass business operated at a loss then went bankrupt in 1937. The silver division continues to this day.
Intimate details about Clara’s life and times were reflected by a display of clothing worn then, white shirtwaists, long black skirts, and a new type of bicycle women could ride in that garb. The docent’s passion for and knowledge of her subject revealed newfound freedoms for women who could not yet vote but could work, as long as they were not married. Once married, they had to quit, a frustration for Clara after she trained them.
After an hour-and-a-half immersion in Clara’s world, soul fed, I realized for some the creation of art is a necessity. Tiffany lamps emerged from the love Clara Driscoll and Louis Tiffany had for art, the beauty of nature and the joy of self-expression. Tiffany’s family wealth supported those for their own intrinsic value and the pleasure they gave others. This extraordinary experience cost me $2, a surcharge to cover the cost of insurance and transportation for the exhibit. For the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, the exhibit was also a non-profit venture, shared with the community out love and appreciation for beautiful art. I saw parallel applications to my own life and writing. Albuquerque was the only city in the country, beside New York, to host the Tiffany exhibit. When I asked the docent why that was so, she replied, “Because we have a very persistent curator.” Albuquerque is named after a Spanish duke and his city in Spain, so one of its nicknames is “Duke City.” Culture is indeed alive and well in “Duke City.”
