John Piper and David Wasley, Tree of Life window (1995), Church of St Mary, Iffley, Oxfordshire.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

John Piper and David Wasley, detail of Tree of Life window (1995), Church of St Mary, Iffley, Oxfordshire.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Iffley, Oxford, Oxfordshire

Address

Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Church Way, Iffley, Oxford OX4 4EJ

Recommended by

Helen Whittaker FMGP (10)

Highlight

Nativity window - Baptistery south

Artist, maker and date

Reason for highlighting

In one of John Piper’s last window designs, he re-worked an ancient literary conceit about the nativity in stained glass, to project a Christian message in new and engaging ways.

Other comments

Note how in Piper’s design, and with Christmas in mind, the words associated with each animal, echo their natural sound

Cock – Christus natus est (Christ is born),
Goose – Quando? Quando? (When? When?),
Crow – In hac nocte (On this night),
Owl – Ubi? Ubi? (Where? where?),
Lamb – Bethlehem! Bethlehem!

Piper’s Tree of Life window focuses on Christ’s birth. It is balanced on the north side by a window by Roger Wagner (2012), “The Flowering Tree”, which considers Christ’s death and resurrection. The window was commissioned as part of an enhancements programme that included a door for the thirteenth century ambry by Nicholas Mynheer. These works were shortlisted for the ACE Award for Art in a Religious Context 2015. More details can be seen on Art+Christianity’s Ecclesiart web pages, which raise awareness of significant works of modern and contemporary art since 1920 in UK churches and cathedrals.

Artist/maker notes

John Egerton Christmas Piper CH (1903 –1992) was an English painter, printmaker and designer of stained-glass windows and both opera and theatre sets. He began working in stained glass in partnership with Patrick Reyntiens, whom he had met through John Betjeman, from 1950

Sources:
John Piper on Wikipedia
Stained Glass: art or anti-art by John Piper (Studio Vista, 1968)
John Piper and stained glass by June Osborne (Sutton Publishing, 1997)

David Wasley (b. 1949) studied painting at the Central School of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art specialising in sculpture and print making. Later he joined the studio of Patrick Reyntiens for seven years and made studio windows to John Piper’s designs.

Since 1984 he has been making his own studio glass and painting

Source: The pamphlet ‘John Piper and the Church: A stained glass tour of selected local churches’, produced in conjunction with an exhibition at Dorchester Abbey in 2012.

Highlighted dates at this location

1995 (Go to date search)