DOI Heft:
No. 74 (May 1899)
DOI Artikel:Stained glass designs by Frank Brangwyn
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19231#0278
Frank Brangwyn s Stained Glass Designs
contrary, he has been fully occupied in carrying many of the limitations which artists and craftsmen
out a scheme of adornment for a private house, were formerly bound to observe, and, confident
and in preparing a series of cartoons for stained that his own originality would be loyally seconded
glass windows. These cartoons have been de- by his interpreters, has taken distinct liberties with
signed for M. S. Bing, of " L'Art Nouveau," Paris, the technical traditions of stained glass designing,
and will be ultimately executed by Tiffany & Co., He has especially avoided the old formality in the
whose manner of handling stained glass is well placing of the leads, and has not hesitated to use
calculated to give results that are very unlike those glass surfaces of considerable size, so that the un-
generally arrived at by the methods usually in gainliness of lead divisions cutting across spaces
vogue. where no outline was needed might not offend the
Mr. Brangwyn in his cartoons has turned to eye. In all this he has deliberately followed an
advantage the fact that the completion of his work idea of his own, based upon his judgment of the
would be in the hands of a firm fully ready to make possibilities of the process rather than upon the
any departure from the customary processes that notion, by which craftsmen are somewhat inclined
was likely to be interesting. He has disregarded to be influenced, that devices which have served
their purpose in the past must be
scrupulously maintained whether or
not they are appropriate to present day
\ ;k.._ . <^iJ .......••,-\ ' }J <4 '] needs.
The intention of his cartoons as
works of art, and apart from their
adaptability to the exigencies of stained
glass making, is artistically worthy of
note. A certain richness of detail was
desirable, and a freedom of line far
j greater than would have been possible
under the old conditions of the art. So
he has aimed at considerable vitality in
his drawing and composition, avoiding
.-jHLgJF JEErJ • pedantic archaicisms, and bringing into
his designs the freshness and elegance
which his study of nature has made
essential elements of his style. Yet he
has not fallen into the mistake of mak-
ing the windows unduly pictorial, and
has not sought after impossibilities in
the way of realism. In this appears his
decorative discretion. He knows just
how much fact is permissible in a
decorative work, and what infusion of
convention is needed to make the whole
effect consistent; and, with this know-
acceptable whole. Such a result is
plainly what was to be expected of
' \ I _ ;; i him. He has never failed in resource,
and has never shown himself unequal
to the task of giving to old dogmas new
and up-to-date readings. This vein of
boldness runs through all his work,
and from it springs that characteristic
quality which sets it apart from what
design for stained glass by frank brangwyn is produced by the majority of his
255
contrary, he has been fully occupied in carrying many of the limitations which artists and craftsmen
out a scheme of adornment for a private house, were formerly bound to observe, and, confident
and in preparing a series of cartoons for stained that his own originality would be loyally seconded
glass windows. These cartoons have been de- by his interpreters, has taken distinct liberties with
signed for M. S. Bing, of " L'Art Nouveau," Paris, the technical traditions of stained glass designing,
and will be ultimately executed by Tiffany & Co., He has especially avoided the old formality in the
whose manner of handling stained glass is well placing of the leads, and has not hesitated to use
calculated to give results that are very unlike those glass surfaces of considerable size, so that the un-
generally arrived at by the methods usually in gainliness of lead divisions cutting across spaces
vogue. where no outline was needed might not offend the
Mr. Brangwyn in his cartoons has turned to eye. In all this he has deliberately followed an
advantage the fact that the completion of his work idea of his own, based upon his judgment of the
would be in the hands of a firm fully ready to make possibilities of the process rather than upon the
any departure from the customary processes that notion, by which craftsmen are somewhat inclined
was likely to be interesting. He has disregarded to be influenced, that devices which have served
their purpose in the past must be
scrupulously maintained whether or
not they are appropriate to present day
\ ;k.._ . <^iJ .......••,-\ ' }J <4 '] needs.
The intention of his cartoons as
works of art, and apart from their
adaptability to the exigencies of stained
glass making, is artistically worthy of
note. A certain richness of detail was
desirable, and a freedom of line far
j greater than would have been possible
under the old conditions of the art. So
he has aimed at considerable vitality in
his drawing and composition, avoiding
.-jHLgJF JEErJ • pedantic archaicisms, and bringing into
his designs the freshness and elegance
which his study of nature has made
essential elements of his style. Yet he
has not fallen into the mistake of mak-
ing the windows unduly pictorial, and
has not sought after impossibilities in
the way of realism. In this appears his
decorative discretion. He knows just
how much fact is permissible in a
decorative work, and what infusion of
convention is needed to make the whole
effect consistent; and, with this know-
acceptable whole. Such a result is
plainly what was to be expected of
' \ I _ ;; i him. He has never failed in resource,
and has never shown himself unequal
to the task of giving to old dogmas new
and up-to-date readings. This vein of
boldness runs through all his work,
and from it springs that characteristic
quality which sets it apart from what
design for stained glass by frank brangwyn is produced by the majority of his
255