Studio: international art (67.1916)

Studio-Talk

M

ANCHESTER. — A
stained-glass window is
one of the most per-
manent and perhaps
one of the most beautiful ways to
perpetuate the self-sacrifice and
gallantry of the men and women
who have given all for England.
The window illustrated on this page
was recently erected in St. Ann’s
Parish Church of Clifton, near Man-
chester, and is a small but exceed-
ingly beautiful piece of modern
craftsmanship ; it has been designed
and painted by Mr. Gordon M.
Forsyth, and presented by the staff
of the Clifton and Kersley
Collieries, of which the late Captain
Pilkington was one of the directors
before the outbreak of the War.
The glass invented by Mr. Edward
Prior, and hence known as “ Prior’s
Glass,” has been used throughout
the window; it is a material which
properly handled gives a richness,
brilliance of colour, and jewelled
effect equal to if not surpassing the

MEMORIAL WINDOW IN ST. ANN’S l’ARISH CHURCH, CLIFTON, NEAR
MANCHESTER, TO CAI'T. HUGH BROCKLEHURST PILKINGTON, KILLED AT
THE DARDANELLES. DESIGNED AND PAINTED BY GORDON M. FORSYTH

one and the same time both the planes and their
boundaries. Were there nothing in this method
but its originality, one would, perhaps, be justified
in designating it a mannerism, or a mere trick.
But I think it is not merely original. It possesses
the solid graphic quality of enhancing the effect
of a flat surface, and of emphasising the formal
nature of a drawing. This last feature is particu-
larly notable for the reaction which it denotes
against loose sketchiness and ‘ poetic licence ’ in
drawing. Then along with this formality of design,
which in Mr. Polunin’s work is, as I said, of
Russian origin, we find in it something that is
distinctly French—the simple and unsophisticated
attitude with which the artist approaches his sub-
ject. He makes no attempt to go
beyond what he actually sees, to
juggle and wrestle with the subject
in order to find in it some definite
sentiment that would bring it within
some preconceived idea of a style.

For Mr. Polunin his subject is
always a still-life, no matter what
sentiment may pervade it or what
feeling it may arouse in the
beholder.

quality of the finest thirteenth-century glass. The
late Captain Pilkington—son of Mr. Charles
Pilkington—was killed whilst leading his men
against the Turkish position in Gallipoli on June 4.
He belonged to one of the oldest and best known
families in Lancashire.

BOLTON.—The term “museum” is really
too narrow and stereotyped in meaning
to be applied to the new form of exhibi-
tion which is in process of development
at the old Hall-i’ th’-Wood, Bolton-le-Moors. The
usual things associated with institutions so named
were to be seen there during the dozen years of
its existence as an ordinary museum, but some

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