An Túr Gloine: Artists and the Collective is now open to visitors at the National Gallery in Dublin. Admission to the exhibition is free of charge. The exhibition will remain on display until the 25th of May 2025.
An Túr Gloine is currently on display at the National Gallery in Dublin. The gallery describes it as the first exhibition dedicated to the pioneering stained glass studio An Túr Gloine (The Tower of Glass), founded in 1903 by Sarah Purser.
Purser founded the gallery with the help of Irish Cultural activist Edward Martyn and English stained glass artist A.E. Child. The Irish name An Túr Gloine was inspired by ancient Irish mythology from the eleventh-century Book of Invasions.
The studio created art imbued with the contemporary spirit of romantic nationalism and Irish cultural revivalism, while also adopting the methods of the British Arts and Crafts movement, championed by John Ruskin, William Morris and Christopher Whall.
An Túr Gloine’s collective model, combined with the skills and creativity of its imaginative members, set the studio apart from rivals in Ireland and abroad. The studio advanced the international reputation of Irish stained glass as the foremost achievement of the Irish Arts & Crafts movement.
The exhibition focuses on the studio’s history, archives and artworks, and the variety and individuality of its stained glass designs. Featured artists include Wilhelmina Geddes, Michael Healy, Catherine O’Brien, Alfred E. Child, Hubert McGoldrick, Ethel Rhind and Evie Hone.
In addition to the range of artists, the exhibition has several displays with contextual information on the works included in the exhibition. For example, you can learn about the celtic revival which discusses how An Túr Gloine was established to provide Irish churches with superior-quality stained glass that were created by artists in Ireland.
From attending the exhibition, I was able to learn how An Túr Gloine functioned as a cooperative studio. From the beginning, the studio functioned on a cooperative basis, with a shared workshop, kiln and materials. In 1925 the studio was officially incorporated as a Cooperative Society.
The exhibition also covers some of the studio's rivalries. A number of successful Irish stained glass firms emerged in the late nineteenth century which made the art a competitive space. The chief rival of An Túr Gloine was the artist Harry Clarke. His reputation was formed from his exquisite designs for the Honan Chapel. From 1921 he assumed full responsibility for stained glass design at Joshua Clarke & Sons.
A favourite feature of the art exhibition was the display dedicated to the process of making stained glass art. The Irish film Institute created a video explaining the process step by step for the exhibition. It is played in the middle of the exhibition allowing visitors a brief pause from viewing the beautiful artwork, and learning from the contextual displays. For those who prefer reading to viewing, the exhibition also includes a visual display that breaks down the process into five steps.
The Artists
1. Wilhelmina Geddes
Wilhelmina Geddes studied at the Belfast School of Art when Sarah Purser bought her striking illustration, Cinderella Dressing the Ugly Sister, at the 1910 Arts and Crafts Society. It was Purser that encouraged Geddes to take up the medium of stained glass. Purser invited Geddes to work at An Túr Gloine. She became an official member in 1912. This was a great benefit to the studio as Geddes had connections from Ulster which brought new commissions to the studio. Geddes was greatly inspired by stained glass in the medieval cathedrals of France which she encountered on study trips abroad.
2. Michael Healy
Michael Healy was born in a Dublin tenement and began to earn a livelihood from the age of fourteen. Healy enrolled as a part time student at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. In 1899 he was sponsored to study life drawing at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. As he progressed to a skilled draughtsman, Healy became the first recruit invited by Sarah Purser to join her at An Túr Gloine. He pioneered a labour-intensive acidic process to achieve shimmering exquisitely detailed windows in scintillating colours. His mature designs usually oscillate between austere stylisation and compassionate realism.
3. Catherine O’Brien
Catherine (often known as Kitty) O’Brien was the second artist recruited by Sarah Purser to join An Túr Gloine. Prior to this, O’Brien had been a student at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. At the school, O’Brien was taking stained glass lessons from A.E Child. Her early windows feature mellow tones, leafy canopies and pale diamond-shaped quarries which were influenced by Child and Whall. By the 1930s, a glowing profusion of brilliant reds, oranges, blues and greens enriched her increasingly simplified compositions. O’Brien had an excellent composition of small-scale, reverent depictions of Irish Saints. It is said her work often evoked a folk art quality in her designs.
