Architectural Glass Design
A History
Where?
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Where do you think you could find stained
glass?
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In groups of 2/3 take 5 minutes to write a list
of places you could have seen stained and
architectural glass design.
Where it all started…. Ancient Egypt
• Artisans in Egypt used heat to transform SAND,
SEAWEED, BRUSHWOOD AND LIME into
glass.
• In ancient Egypt, Glass was used to make a
variety of objects, ranging from drinking cups to
perfume containers.
• Around 1500BC they managed to create
perfume bottles, tableware and the first window
panes
• Glass wasn’t important practically but it gave
you status
Ancient Egyptian glass jar
• Egyptians also used coloured glass in jewellery.
It was used to replace precious gems. Although
the Egyptians had access to gemstones, they
preferred the colours they could create in glass.
Fr nearly each gemstone, there was a glass
Fish Shaped Glass Vessel used for Oils or Make-up
formulation used to mimic it.
1390-1336 BC
Medieval Glass
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All medieval glass was made by members of a craft guild. This was because
stained glass construction requires great artistic skill to first create the design
and then to engineer and assemble it.
Almost all medieval glass was ecclesiastical ( for churches and cathedrals)
The purpose of Stained glass in churches was mainly to allow people who could
not read the opportunity to see the stories from the bible visually.
York Minster, England
Adam Delving
(c. 1176)
West Window (1338)
Canterbury Cathedral, England
Our Lady of the Beautiful
Window (12th Century)
Chartres Cathedral, France
Medieval Glass
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Medieval glass is often intensely coloured, especially
with reds and blues.
During the Reformation in the 16th Century (where many
people changed their religion and moved away from
Catholicism towards Protestantism) many of these medieval
stained glass designs were purposely destroyed and replaced
with plain glass. This is why very few can be found today
undamaged.
Stained Glass Revival -19th Century
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In the 19th Century there was a revival in the use
and manufacture of Stained Glass.
Many new buildings including churches were
constructed in the Gothic Revival style during this
time.
A typical Gothic arched window
Gothic Revival architecture was all about creating
buildings in the style of old medieval churches and
cathedrals.
These new 19th Century buildings required Stained
Glass designs just like the old Medieval buildings so
this increased the interest and popularity of this art
form.
Glasgow University (1870)
This building was designed by
the architect George Gilbert
Scott and is an example of the
type of Gothic Revival building
which would have needed new
stained glass designs created
for it.
Stained Glass in Bute Hall,
Glasgow University (1870’s)
These designs are in
memory of old professors and
Dean’s of the University.
Stained Glass Revival -19th Century
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The revival of Stained Glass was helped along by the Industrial
Revolution. Factories capable of producing Stained Glass using
new techniques on a larger scale much more quickly pushed
forward the manufacture of Stained Glass in Britain.
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Within fifty years of the start of
commercial manufacture in the 1830s
British stained glass grew into an
enormous and specialised industry
with many companies in existence.
A19th Century Glass Factory
The Arts & Crafts Movement
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William Morris
Print
The Arts and Crafts Movement was an
international design movement that originated in
Britain and flourished in the 19th Century between
1880 and 1910.
The central figure in the Arts and Crafts
Movement was William Morris (1834–1896).
They were influenced by the Gothic Revival and
were interested in all things medieval.
They went against the Industrial Revolution as
didn’t like things which were made on a large
scale by machines in factories and preferred
simplicity, good craftsmanship, and good design.
While the original intent was to provide handmade
goods to the common man, the cost of paying
craftsmen an honest wage resulted in higher
prices than the common man could afford. This
limited the movement to the upper class.
Crucifixion
Stained Glass
designed by
Edward BurneJones
The Arts & Crafts Movement
William Morris (1834 – 1896)
David's Charge to Solomon (1882), a
stained-glass window by Edward BurneJones and William Morris in Trinity Church,
Boston
Morris was the single most influential
designer of the 19th Century. He had an
extraordinary talent as a pattern designer.
Morris set out to revive the traditions of
craftsmanship which, in his mind, had been lost
during the Industrial Revolution.
He went on to found the company Morris,
Marshall, Faulkner & Co.
His company created hand made carvings,
stained glass, metal-work, paper-hangings,
chintzes (printed fabrics), and carpets.
The decoration of churches formed the most
important part of their business and was well
known for its Stained Glass designs.
The company still exists today
http://www.william-morris.co.uk/index.aspx
Art Nouveau
Poster of Joan
of Arc, by
Alphonse
Mucha, (1909)
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Art Nouveau was an international
movement and style of art,
architecture and applied art especially the decorative arts.
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The name 'Art Nouveau' is French for
'new art'.
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Art Nouveau was characterized by
organic forms, dynamic, undulating,
and flowing lines and curves which
took its inspiration from nature.
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Art Nouveau's fifteen-year peak (1890
– 1905) was most strongly felt
throughout Europe - from Glasgow to
Moscow and Barcelona - but its
influence was global.
Gaudi’s Casa Battlo
in Barcelona (1904 – 1906)
Peacock lamp,
Tiffany Studios, (1900–1910)
Art Nouveau
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A number of artists and designers can be classed as working
in the Art Nouveau style and these include:Gustav Klimt
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Alphonse Mucha
Antoni Gaudí
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Each of these artists and designers interpreted Art Nouveau
in their own individual way.
Art Nouveau was in many ways a response to the
Industrial Revolution. Some artists welcomed
technological progress and embraced the aesthetic
possibilities of new materials such as cast iron. Others
hated the shoddiness of mass-produced machine-made
goods and aimed to elevate the decorative arts to the
level of fine art by applying the highest standards of
craftsmanship and design to everyday objects.
Art Nouveau
Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848 – 1933)
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The Holy City
(1905) Tiffany
Studios
Tiffany was an American artist and designer best
known for his Stained Glass designs.
He was inspired to work with Stained Glass after
seeing examples of Roman glass in a London
Museum. He felt that he could improve on the quality
of contemporary Stained Glass designs of his time.
He created the Tiffany Glass Company in 1885 which
became known as the Tiffany Studios in 1902.
Tiffany designed stained glass windows and lamps,
glass mosaics, blown glass, ceramics, jewellery,
enamels and metalwork.
Tiffany experimented with Stained Glass and is know
for creating the type of glass that he named “Favrile”
in 1878.
Tiffany, along with John La Farge who invented
opalescent glass, made great steps forward in Wisteria lamp,
Tiffany Studios,
Stained Glass manufacture and design.
(1900–1910)
Art Nouveau
Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928)
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Mackintosh was an architect who designed
schools, offices, churches, tearooms and homes.
He was also an interior designer and decorator, an
exhibition designer, a designer of furniture,
metalwork, textiles and stained glass and, in his
latter years, a watercolourist.
One of his most famous buildings is the Glasgow
School of Art. He not only designed the exterior but
interiors of this buildings too which included
Stained Glass windows and panels.
East Doors with Glass Design,
Glasgow School of Art (1887 – 88)
Willow Tea Rooms, Glasgow,
Stained glass panel (1903 -04)
Queens Cross Church, Glasgow (1898)
Queens Cross Church with
West Window (1898)
This stained glass is more abstract
and organic in design than religious
although it is situated in a church.
Beyond Art Nouveau
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 - 1959)
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Frank Lloyd Wright is probably one of the worlds
best known architects.
He was considered the most influential architect of
his time and designed about 1,000 structures, some
400 of which were built.
Lloyd Wright subscribed to the ethos of Arts & Crafts
but is seen as the founder of modern architecture in
America
His influences include the balanced harmonious
composition of Japanese architecture and interiors.
He took inspiration from the Japanese grid and used
restrained, geometric shapes in the structure and
decoration of his buildings to recreate this harmony
Although mainly known as an architect, Frank Lloyd
Wright was also active in many related areas such
as furniture design, graphics arts, and stained glass.
He designed well over 4,000 leaded glass windows
and doors for over 150 of his buildings.
Beyond Art Nouveau
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 - 1959)
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The major differences in Wright's glass design
when compared to what came before is that the
designs heavily depend on the zinc-or copperplated came configuration (everyone else used
lead) and they often feature geometric abstractions
of natural elements such as plants. He used
transparent solid-coloured, iridescent and clear
glass, and sometimes sandwiched gold leaf
between two thin pieces of clear glass.
Heath House – Window (1904)
Oak Park Home Studio Skylight (1898)
Lake Geneva Inn
Chicago (1911-1912)
Meyer May House (1908-1909)
Hollyhock House
Los Angeles (1921)
20th Century
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Due to changing styles and the end of the
Gothic Revival period many of the 19th
Stained Glass companies went out of
business.
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However another revival of Stained Glass
design in the UK design came about due to
the Second World War.
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Many Stained Glass designs were destroyed
during German bombing runs across Britain
and once the war had ended many of these
were restored.
Coventry Cathedral
lays in ruins, 1940
A bombed chapel in London, 1941