1- St Andrew's and St George’s West Church, Edinburgh

Standing in the circular well of St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church Edinburgh, looking back and up to the gallery, two fulsomely large circle-top windows bear down on us. Looking relatively similar in terms of their compositional presence and scaling they may at first sight seem to share much in common with each other. In fact they perfectly reflect the quite different cultures which, by way of their histories, exist at either end of the central belt, a mere 39 miles. The windows carry within them the essential characteristics of being at either side of a cultural divide : of an east coast / west coast differential. Perhaps these differences may start early with contrasting geographies. Up and down the entire east coast the North Sea plunges bursts and tugs persistently at the coastline resulting in tall cliffs and stony beaches. On the west coast it seems as if the ocean is invited far in to the land, each gentle tide creeping across low shorelines and moving up long sea-lochs. The best hills are arguably in the west. In socio-historical terms the 5th and 7th centuries AD saw Christianity first come to western shores. They named this Dalriada, a Gaelic kingdom encompassing both the eastern seaboard of Northern Ireland and the western seaboard of Scotland. The river Clyde eventually became a centre of heavy industry and ship-building while Edinburgh and the east coast with long established trading links with Europe became associated more with culture and learning. The two Scottish colleges involved in training for the ministry, Trinity College in Glasgow and New College in Edinburgh, even now strike deeply varying emphases in the structure and focus of their work. While in a recent tribute to Rolling Stones’ pianist Ian Stewart, Mick Jagger recounted that he had always laid great emphasis on the fact that he was from the east coast of Scotland. So what’s going on?

Up in the gallery, standing directly in front of each window, the left-hand is by Alfred (Alf) Webster of Glasgow, the right by Douglas Strachan of Edinburgh. Both artists are obviously consummate masters of their art, each capture the aesthetic influences of their time and reflect perfectly the nature of each of the two great cities. Webster’s work reflects the strong Scotia / Hibernian roots of the largely catholic industrial west while Strachan takes on board the mobile influences of a contemporary European art. His mannered, toughly wrought graphic style reflects an acquaintance with the vorticist movement current in Europe at that time. Strachan’s choice of colour range (narrower than Webster’s) in combination with a “clean” technique balances the considerations of a strong southern light beautifully. In this work we can detect the almost psychological pulse which permeates his larger compositions. With Webster, a broader palette of colour and a brooding sense of an emanating glow is accompanied by a fine, if rather dusty, on-glass stipple modelling that I associate with the nature of west coast glass painting. Sadly, Alf Webster died in the Great War just a year or two after this window was installed in 1914 and it is at this point that I believe Scotland lost one of its limbs in the flourishing of Scottish stained glass and its subsequent development.

Strachan’s much utilised technique of “plating” glass on glass in order to achieve the correct hue of colour and tone can be seen on his window when viewed externally.

This is the first part of a 10 part essay, to continue reading please follow the link below

Part 2 – Westruther Parish Church

Alternatively the whole essay, without pictures, can be read as a PDF here