DOI Heft:
No. 82 (January, 1900)
DOI Artikel:British decorative art in 1899, and the Arts And Crafts Exhibition, [4]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19783#0303
Arts and Crafts
troubadours ; gnomes and kobolds fantastic ff rms
of heraldic beasts or mythical monsters, such und
kindred motifs are those of Mr. Paterson s ch jice.
Withal his work is characterised by the utmost
freedom from ancient conventions. For instance,
the architectural canopy, one of the most distinctive
features in old work, is almost entirely absent from
Mr. Paterson's design, as here represented. The
nearest approach to anything of the sort is to be
seen in the " Vertumnus " panel, and in that of the
" Questing Beast," from the Morte D'Arthur. In
the latter case, however, the quasi-canopy is built
up of a tracery, not of stonework, but of the
branches of trees. To conserve, as far as may be,
STAINED GLASS
DESIGNED BY OSCAR PATERSON
STAINED GLASS
DESIGNED BY OSCAR PATERSON
the translucency peculiar to glass, Mr. Paterson is
sparing of enamel painting, confining himself,
whenever he can, to the lead lines for the delinea-
tion of form. In the technique of glass-window
making, as he understands it, the lead plays a part
of the first importance. In Mr. Paterson's hands
it is no ugly necessity for jointing the glass together,
but, far otherwise, the principal vehicle for the
expression of form. In conjunction therewith the
glass is dealt with frankly as of the nature of a
mosaic. The general impression produced by the
white glass work, as is the case with the panel of a
pair of heraldic lions, wherein neither colour, stain,
nor painting is introduced, is that of a harmony of
various textures, lightness and sparkling brilliance
"stopped with occasional flashes of silence." Such
modelling as there is has been obtained by
abrading the surface of the glass itself, or by
bevelling the edges of the thick and uneven
pieces of which a great part of the work is composed.
275
troubadours ; gnomes and kobolds fantastic ff rms
of heraldic beasts or mythical monsters, such und
kindred motifs are those of Mr. Paterson s ch jice.
Withal his work is characterised by the utmost
freedom from ancient conventions. For instance,
the architectural canopy, one of the most distinctive
features in old work, is almost entirely absent from
Mr. Paterson's design, as here represented. The
nearest approach to anything of the sort is to be
seen in the " Vertumnus " panel, and in that of the
" Questing Beast," from the Morte D'Arthur. In
the latter case, however, the quasi-canopy is built
up of a tracery, not of stonework, but of the
branches of trees. To conserve, as far as may be,
STAINED GLASS
DESIGNED BY OSCAR PATERSON
STAINED GLASS
DESIGNED BY OSCAR PATERSON
the translucency peculiar to glass, Mr. Paterson is
sparing of enamel painting, confining himself,
whenever he can, to the lead lines for the delinea-
tion of form. In the technique of glass-window
making, as he understands it, the lead plays a part
of the first importance. In Mr. Paterson's hands
it is no ugly necessity for jointing the glass together,
but, far otherwise, the principal vehicle for the
expression of form. In conjunction therewith the
glass is dealt with frankly as of the nature of a
mosaic. The general impression produced by the
white glass work, as is the case with the panel of a
pair of heraldic lions, wherein neither colour, stain,
nor painting is introduced, is that of a harmony of
various textures, lightness and sparkling brilliance
"stopped with occasional flashes of silence." Such
modelling as there is has been obtained by
abrading the surface of the glass itself, or by
bevelling the edges of the thick and uneven
pieces of which a great part of the work is composed.
275