Church of St. Luke, Wallsend, Tyne & Wear
Address
Church of St. Luke, Frank Street, Wallsend, NE28 6RNRecommended by
Highlight
East WindowArtist, maker and date
Designed by Wilhelmina Geddes and made at An Túr Gloine, 1922Reason for highlighting
Geddes’ figurative work has the edge in terms of engagement, draftsmanship and painting style. She uses the aperture itself to inspire her artwork, thus her art is part of the building as the building becomes part of her art. Genius.
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. Her last large work was her window for the Church of St Peter, Lampeter, installed in 1946. On her death she was described as ‘the greatest stained glass artist of our time’.
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)
Wikipedia entry for An Túr Gloine
An Túr Gloine (The Tower of Glass) was a co-operative studio for stained glass and opus sectile artists estblished in Dublin in 1903 by Sarah Purser. It ran until 1944.
Other comments
Wilhelmina Geddes was a member of the Irish co-operative studio of An Túr Gloine (Tower of Glass) and just a mile up the road, at the Church of St Peter, are further rare English examples of their work in windows by Michael Healy (1913-21) and Ethel Rhind (1921). St Peter’s also has a fine modern window by Tom Denny (2017).