By Martin Eidelberg, Nina Gray and Margaret K. Hofer
New-York Historical Society/GILES, $49.95

Talk about revisionist history. Basing their claim on long-lost letters and documents, the authors of this book assert that an obscure woman named Clara Driscoll was in fact “the hidden genius behind many of Louis C. Tiffany’s designs,” including the famous “Wisteria,” “Butterfly,” “Peony” and “Dragonfly” lamp patterns.

Although Tiffany’s business model involved his taking credit for all conceptual and design work, Driscoll is here revealed not only as a major force in managing the firm’s female staff of glass-cutters (the “Tiffany Girls”) but also as a creative artist in glass and mosaic. After the Art Nouveau era, Tiffany wares went completely out of style, and by the time of her death in 1944, Clara Driscoll’s artistic achievements were entirely forgotten. Partly due to Tiffany’s policy of never publicly crediting anyone but himself, and partly due to Driscoll’s lack of egotism, her role has only now become fully known.

Heavily illustrated with photographs, this book—based on an exhibition at the New-York Historical Society—documents in detail the intricate processes that went into the making of a stained-glass window, a mosaic-base lamp or a massive mosaic. It also provides a clear window into the life of middle-class working single women at the turn of the 20th century. From studio to boarding houses, concerts and outings to the Jersey Shore, Clara Driscoll and her male and female friends lived lives that were artistic yet still circumscribed by late-Victorian codes of propriety.