ST JOSEPH AND THE ANGEL?

Brief description: Stained glass panel possibly depicting St Joseph and the angel. Designed and made by Wilhelmina Geddes in about 1920. The nimbed angel has blue wings and a purple skirt. Joseph has a white beard and is lying on a white sheet.

Wilhelmina Geddes (1887-1955) was part of the Dublin Arts and Crafts stained glass cooperative An Túr Gloine (the Tower of Glass). This small inward-looking scene represents the moment an angel visits Joseph to tell him to marry Mary and then travel to Egypt. Joseph is shown asleep, revealing the artists' interest in different states of consciousness. Wilhelmina Geddes was raised in Belfast and in 1912 joined the Dublin Arts and Crafts stained-glass co-operative An Túr Gloine, the Tower of Glass. The Tower of Glass, founded in 1903, was a direct progeny of Christopher Whall and was managed by Whall's leading craftsman, A. E. Child. It was the fountainhead of Ireland's exciting stained-glass revival in the 20th century and Geddes's precocious talent flourished there. From 1925 she worked independently in London at the Glass House, Fulham. Geddes designed windows, book illustrations, embroidered panels and linocut prints in the expressive, angular, attenuated figural style seen in this small cabinet panel. Her work won her international acclaim and important commissions in Canada, New Zealand and France as well as Great Britain and Ireland. Her attention to detail and exacting personal standards meant that her output was relatively small. Nonetheless, she is one of the most widely admired stained-glass artists of the 20th century.

Object type: stained glass panel

Number of objects: 1

Production date: 1919-1920

Production period: 1920s

Designer: Wilhelmina Geddes (1887 - 1955)

Manufacturer: Geddes, Wilhelmina 1887=1955

Dimensions: Height: 285 mm, Width: 280 mm

Original location: Dublin Ireland Wilhelmina Geddes Studio

Acquisition: gift 7.11.2001

Acquisition source: Kerr, Elizabeth

Bibliographical references: Caron, Davied (ed.), Gazetter of Irish Stained Glass (2021), pp.225-226

Accession number: ELYGM:2001.3