- SInce the arts and crafts movement was focused on
a return to a bucolic, medieval past,
it is only natural that William Morris viewed
stained glass work as part of an ancient
and romantic tradition.
Once he was engaged in all of the applied arts
he turned to glass.
Like the printing processes, wall paper inks
and textiles, Morris believed that the processes used
to make glass in the 19th century were eroding a craft
from the 12th century.
He stated clearly, "Departing from these medieval
processes will lead us astray."
A medieval stained glass window is typically
dense with strong religious symbolism.
Morris maintained the same processes to create a window
by taking pieces of colored glass,
joining them together with lead
and painting on the glass.
The glass was the fired to make the images permanent.
He veered away from the traditional stained glass,
using bolder colors, simpler forms
and the introduction of natural forms
such as flowers and vines, to the backgrounds.
The subjects were not uniformly religious.
The natural shapes based on the wallpaper patterns
might surround a saint, mythical or historical figure.
Chaucers Good Women, Chaucer Asleep
by Edward Burne-Jones,
depicts a sleeping figure of mostly solid
and simple shapes set against
a remarkably intricate pattern of wild flowers,
thistles and a medieval structure.
William Morris' Angel,
for Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church
shares the bold forms for the angels robes
and is surrounded by flowers
and an organic pattern on the bottom.
The face and hair are clearly tied to the
pre-raphaelite approach.
Louis Comfort Tiffany, and his early rival John La Farge
introduced the art and crafts movement
to the United States with lamps and glassware.
Like Morris, when they were unable to find existing
materials they made their own.
And reinvented glass making.
Tiffany and La Farge experimented with
new types of glass, with mineral impurities
not found in commercial glass.
This created a richer palette with denser values.
Tiffany patented American made opalescent glass
that created a rainbow hued appearance
with the introduction of light.
Unlike Morris and Burne-Jones,
Tiffany's used the natural world as his subject matter.
Tiffany's lamps and stained glass used nature
depicted in a fluid and stylized way.
A wooded landscape in three panels
goes beyond simply representing a forest scene.
It was designed to depict three times of the day,
morning, mid day and evening.
The panel takes advantage of the natural light
outside the window that changes throughout the day.
The naturalistic use of changing light
illustrates Tiffany's ability to paint with
light and glass.
The Tiffany lamps followed natural forms,
a wisteria electric lamp is created
with a bronze support emulating the bark
and roots of a tree.
The lamp is crowned by a shade of
wisteria and leaves that drape naturally.
The colors reflect a range of natural tones
with multiple greens and purples,
rather than a traditional flat palette.
The arts and crafts movement reinvented stained glass
as a modern, expressive art form.
Morris, Tiffany and La Farge innovated materials
and techniques, rejecting commercially produced glass
and seeking inspiration in medieval traditions.
The result produced intensely colorful and inventive
stained glass, using fluid, organic, dramatic
and powerfully moving narratives and symbolism.