A window with punch
The outstanding brilliance and dynamism of the stained glass designed by the Irish Arts and Crafts artist Wilhelmina Geddes after her move to England in 1925 is embodied in her window for All Saints church at Laleham in Surrey. Yet this masterpiece provoked bitter controversy, as Nicola Gordon Bowe explains.
Nicola Gordon Bowe, Monday, 25th August 2008
The works illustrating this article are by Wilhelmina Geddes (1887-1955).
1 Design for a window for All Saints, Laleham, Surrey, 1925. Pencil, watercolour and ink, 33.2 x 22.8 cm. Guildhall Library, London
2 The window as executed, 1926. Photo: Peter Cormack
3, 4 St Christopher and St Eustace (below), details of Figure 2. Photos: Peter Cormack
5 Cartoon for St Cecilia, 1925-26. Black chalk, crayon and wash, 191 x 43.5 cm. Victoria and Albert Museum, London
6 St Cecilia, detail of Figure 2. Photo: Peter Cormack
7 All Saints, Laleham, Surrey. This view shows the east window, the original location for Geddes’s stained glass. Photo: Peter Cormack
9 Percy Goldwin Belfour, in whose memory the window was erected, detail of Figure 2.
Photo: Peter Cormack
10, 11 The roundel lights depicting Belfour’s favourite occupations, fishing (above) and singing. Photos: Peter Cormack
LATEST NEWS & COMMMENT
Manhattan transfer
The Lower East Side, once home to immigrants and aspiring artists, is no receiving the uptown treatment.
Shakespeare in stone
The National Trust's plans to acquire Seaton Delaval Hall are a tribute to a genius who has inspired writers and artists for centuries.
In pursuit of collectors
The Fitzwilliam Museum is celebrating the centenary of the directorship of Sydney Carlyle Cockerell with an exhibition that makes clear that he was in many ways the first modern museum director.
Comments
Post a comment