134 of 136 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Gilded Age slice of artistic life, Nov 28 2010
By Corinne H. Smith - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Clara and Mr. Tiffany: A Novel (Hardcover)
Pre-release customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program
Clara Driscoll (1861-1944) was an actual designer who worked for Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) at the turn of the last century. This novel steps into her shoes as she creates designs with colored glass pieces and manages the all-woman studio that assembles signature Tiffany windows and lampshades. While the storyline traces this independent woman's days over the course of sixteen years, it also by necessity touches on some of the tensions of the times: the limitations in the rights of women; the difficulties of newly-arrived immigrants to the boroughs of New York; and the demands of trade unions and the administrative challenges they can cause. It juxtaposes Art against Commerce, raising the question of which one of the two is more important. This is a dichotomy the Tiffany company itself must face and must resolve in order to survive.
But at its core, this book is about an artistic woman who seeks value in her life and in her work. Clara tells her tale in the first person; and through her eyes, we are thus able to witness her personal and professional setbacks and successes. We meet the assortment of her fellow bohemians who reside in one particular Irishwoman's boarding house. As we take Clara's side and hope that she finds all of the external validation and the happiness that she deserves, we come to realize that her boss, Mr. Tiffany, is in search of those same satisfactions, too. The lingering question is: Will they both succeed?
Good historical fiction introduces us to worlds we do not know firsthand. It teaches us history while it confirms for us the universality of the human experience. Author Susan Vreeland conveys these concepts well. Even her chapter headings reflect the storyline. Each title suggests either a hue of color or a still-life subject of focus. Everything here is about Art.
During my time with this book, I felt the need for more visual references of the stained glass artistry. The Tiffany window outline on the front book cover wasn't enough for me. So I checked out a few Tiffany coffee table books from a local library. When I paged through the exquisite and colorful plates, I could consider the people who created each one, and the many hours of work that both men and women devoted to those projects -- just as Clara and her Tiffany girls really did. Vreeland's book brings home the fact that inanimate objects include a human element whenever they are made by hand. I know I will look at Tiffany windows and lampshades differently from this moment on.
Susan Vreeland has once again revealed the people and the stories behind Art. "Clara and Mr. Tiffany" makes for compelling and enjoyable reading. It's a good story that happens to be based on fact. An Afterword defines which of the book's details were real and which ones were filled in by the author's imagination. The book reminds me somewhat of Nancy Horan's Loving Frank: A Novel, a book based on the relationship of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney. And although this was my first foray into the novels of Susan Vreeland, I now want to go back and read a few of the others. I love books that help me understand "the rest of the story." Vreeland's volumes appear to do just that.
[Review is based on seeing the Advance Reader's Edition.]
87 of 93 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Changed my mind about the book the more I read, Dec 3 2010
By Avid Reader - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Clara and Mr. Tiffany: A Novel (Hardcover)
Pre-release customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program
I had never read a book by Vreeland but was excited to read about Louis Comfort Tiffany (whose supposed works! I have always admired) so I jumped on this book. I was at first put off by the writing style and marked passages I thought clumsy and awkward, mostly passages that were there to teach the reader something about working with glass, but having these lecturing phrases in the mouths of the characters was rather offputting. Luckily I was quickly drawn into the drama of the women who worked under Clara's supervision and Clara's own artistic triumphs in creating some of Tiffany's most famous lamps. I ended up buying a pictoral book on these lamps and windows from Amazon and mean to buy the book for a friend ALONG with the picture book which I know will add much to the story since the creation of many of the lamps is discussed in detail.
I was much struck while reading this that many have wondered why there have not been more famous women artists, writers, composers, etc. Well, this woman was not known as the creator of these "Tiffany" lamps until letters she had written home were discovered very recently. That is the compelling part of this novel for me. I don't think I would have enjoyed this as much as I would if it had not been based on a real person's story and that person was a victim of her time - Tiffany's "girls" were not allowed to marry, if they did they lost their positions. They were certainly not allowed to form a union. The men's union at Tiffany worked hard to get them shut down and concessions had to be made to allow them to have a woman's workshop - this was early 1900s.
The joy of working with the colored glass, the characters, including gays, she boarded with, the glimpses into the immigrant slums, the incidentals of living at the time are all very interesting and strong points in the narrative. The weaker part for me was Clara's own personal story and interactions.
Another point driven home was art vs profit - Louis Comfort Tiffany was always in the red and had to be bailed out by his father Charles Tiffany of Tiffanys the jewelry store. The accountants were always looking for ways to make an easy profit basically telling Clara to stop designing the more expensive lamps - what a loss! There are so many Tiffany lamp imitations these days that the real exquisite beauty of the original lamps has been diminished. Do yourself a favor and read this book and go to the library and look at colored photos of the lamps Clara Driscoll created.
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
As capitvating as a Tiffany stained-glass window, Dec 17 2010
By SB "SB" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Clara and Mr. Tiffany: A Novel (Hardcover)
Pre-release customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program
This is one book I was truly sorry to see end. Clara will captivate you with her turn-of-the-century tale of the life of a newly "modern" woman. The book offers glimpses into several stages of her life - at the end of each ear Clara deftly turns the kaleidoscope for you and the image she's just painted shatters, only to be replaced by an equally detailed and artistic one on the next page. Not at all a stock "girl meets boy, loses boy, gets boy in the end" story, instead it's more of a "girl finds happiness and purpose, loses it, finds it again" tale. The men in her life are many and varied, but not romantic props - they are deep and complex, as are the varied relationships she has with them. It's the first time in a long time I've read a tale that explores the deep and satisfying relationship that can be part of a professional and artistic collaboration between two people - regardless of gender.
Like another wonderful book of the same era (Devil in the White City), the author also deftly includes snapshots of all the important happenings of the era - the Chicago World's Fair, the opening of the New York Subway, issues of immigration and organized labor, the first New Year's Eve to see an electric lighted-ball descend in Times Square...
You won't be able to put this one down!!!