Clara and Mr. Tiffany

What a great book Susan Vreeland wrote about the under appreciated Clara Driscoll.  I loved every stinking sentence of Clara and Mr. Tiffany.  This is historical fiction about the life of a woman living in New York City at the turn of the century.  She works for Louis Comfort Tiffany cutting glass and designing stained glass windows, mosaics and lamps.  The lamps were her idea although Tiffany took all the credit for the idea and the designs. She designed lamps to look like daffodils, wisteria, dragonflies and peonies.  Since I dig glass and mosaics I really appreciated the details about choosing pieces of glass and incorporating nature into her designs.  Tiffany would not allow married women to work in his glass. He only wanted to take advantage of unmarried women.  Clara was an artist and she submitted to his unfair treatment because he gave her the opportunity to practice her art. She lived in a boarding house with other artists and had many friends.  I enjoyed reading about the first subway in New York City and Clara's first ride on a bicycle.  Clara's involvement in the design of the Tiffany lamps has only recently come to light because the New York Historical Society found two boxes of Clara's letters.  This story outlines the plight of women in general and female artists in particular.