Wilhelmina Geddes, The Annunciation, with the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and Gideon, chancel south window (1914), Holy Trinity Church, Southport, Lancashire.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Wilhelmina Geddes, The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and Gideon, detail of chancel south window (1914), Holy Trinity Church, Southport, Lancashire.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Holy Trinity Church, Southport, Lancashire

Address

Holy Trinity Church, Hoghton Street, Southport, PR9 9DX

Recommended by

Clare Hartwell (10)

Highlight

Chancel south window

Artist, maker and date

Wilhelmina Geddes, 1914

Reason for highlighting

A window of striking design and artistry with figures treated in a reverent but unsentimental manner. The two main lights show an Annunciation, with a grave and self-possessed Virgin disturbed while reading, gracefully inclining her head towards Gabriel. Geddes confers individuality and dignity upon a figure sometimes represented with a submissive or fearful demeanour. She stands, while Gabriel kneels and leans towards her, his eyes downturned, one hand held up towards her. The juxtaposition of the two figures, highlighted by the glowing radiance of their yellow-gold haloes, draws the eye to the space between them, a holy space with a single white lily as the focus.

The palette is mainly dark blue and dark red with white and beacons of brightness in the haloes. In the lights above, a host of angels, with little accents of colour in some of the haloes; above them a shining white infant Christ presides. Below the main scene is an Expulsion (left), the naked figures driven from Eden towards a grinning Death by an angel. On the other side, Gideon sleeps beneath a lowering sky with the fleece beside him and the angel in the background.

Other comments

Described as ‘an amazing tour-de-force of Edwardian patronage’ (Pevsner) Holy Trinity church was designed by Huon Matear and built from 1895 with furnishings largely by the Bromsgrove Guild, including stained glass by A.J. Davies. Other glass artists represented are H.G. Hiller, Barrowclough & Sanders, Percy Bacon Bros. and Shrigley & Hunt.

Artist/maker notes

Wilhelmina Geddes (1887-1955) was a vital figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts movement and the 20th century British stained glass revival. Born in County Leitrim, she trained at Belfast School of Art, where she came to the notice of Sarah Purser, who would become a lifelong mentor. Geddes continued her studies at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and joined the artists’ co-operative of An Túr Gloine, which had been established by Purser. Geddes remained in Ireland until 1925, when she moved permanently to London and established a studio at The Glass House.

Recent appreciation of her work includes Peter Cormack’s estimation that ‘Many would consider the powerfully expressive work of Wilhelmina Geddes, in particular, to be among the Arts & Crafts movement’s highest accomplishment in any medium’ while her art is described by her biographer as having ‘unique power and originality’

Sources:
Wilhelmina Geddes: Life and Work by Nicola Gordon Bowe (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2015)
Arts & Crafts Stained Glass by Peter Cormack (Yale University Press,2015)

Highlighted dates at this location

1914 (Go to date search)