John Hayward, east window (1990), Church of St Leonard, Streatham, London.

Photo: Andrew Taylor

John Hayward, detail of east window (1990), Church of St Leonard, Streatham, London.

Photo: Andrew Taylor

Church of St Leonard, Streatham, London SW16

Address

Church of St Leonard, Tooting Bec Gardens, Streatham, London SW16 1HS

Recommended by

Andrew Taylor FMGP (10)

Highlight

East window

Artist, maker and date

John Hayward, 1990

Reason for highlighting

The East window shows Christ in Majesty with symbols of the four Evangelists. This is one of a number of windows John created for the church and they are great examples of his art.

John was such a great narrator with his strong individualistic drawing. In his windows he very skilfully managed to stylistically weave between the abstract and figurative iconography and he packed in a lot of content and meaning into the window spaces, often using cameo shapes to set up little scenes and groups of figures.

Other comments

Amongst John Hayward’s other windows for the church, of particular note are one with six roundel scenes based on the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1982), and one telling of the history of the parish the church, depicting notable characters and stories from the past (1980).

The St Leonard’s church website gives an excellent detailed explanation of the contents of the Parish history window.

Artist/maker notes

John Hayward (1929-2007) was not only one of the foremost stained glass artists of the post-war period but also a designer of church furniture and interiors. After St Martin’s School of Art he turned down a place the Royal College of Art to join Faithcraft, designing church furniture and arranging whole interiors where glass was one important element, before establishing his own studio.

Source: John Hayward’s obituary in The Church Times 7 August 2007

Highlighted dates at this location

1990 (Go to date search)

All artists mentioned at this location

Hayward, John