Kennedy, Hugh Arthur
Hugh Arthur Kennedy (1854-1905) was not only a glass designer, but a playwright and novelist. He studied Fine Art at the Slade School under Sir Edward Poynter.
Kennedy was a founder member of The Fifteen, a loose artistic collective/club lead by Walter Crane, which merged with the St George’s Art Society in 1884 to form the Art Workers Guild, focal point of the Arts & Crafts in London.
Kennedy worked with S. Belham & Co on a number of projects, in particular the west window (1877) of All Saints’ Church, Langport, Somerset, which Cormack says may be claimed as the first ‘Arts & Crafts window’ in view of its ‘richly variegated glass, forceful leading and vigorous painting style.’
Sources:
Arts & Crafts Stained Glass by Peter Cormack (Yale University Press for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2015)
Damozels & deities, Pre-Raphaelite Stained Glass 1870-1898 by William Waters (Seraphim Press, 2017)
