New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-27
STAINED GLASS In AMERICA
A Consideration of the Problem, q.
Makers Have to Solve
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

L o the EDITOR OF Inc tribune.
Sir: In The Tribune Of, February IL
printed letter from Mr.. W. Frank Pr"
which wrongfuily places the blame upo, ~
architects for the preference given the -,
of European glass stainers over that AZ 49,
American workers. With two notahl.
ceptions, the architects have done a Co..
deal to assist in building up the craft in a.
country. They can and will do much mas.
but the growth must be gradual, for th.,. =
great danger of the American following !,
the footsteps of his European comue,,,.
and producing what is on par with n.
badly designed and badly colored opalescs,,
window. The English church window Of =.
day is no more architectural in char.et.,
than the unarchitectural opalescent windox,
were. In other words, it Is a question A,
knowledge and ability OF the man. rs,b.,
than of what medium he uses.
In the case of the windows referred IA :.
having been recently placed in a chapel a,
the Cathedral of st. John the Divine, nei,h.,
the architect nor the owner had any cho,.
as to whether the windows should be m,d.
in this country or abroad. A statute enset,s
by the trustees of the cathedral years ,,o
prohibits the placing Of any window mad.
in America in the cathedral, This Is al.
viously obsolete, and there is as much resso,
for reversing the law as there was for mai.
ing il at the time il was made The Law
was passed as a defence against the opales
cent window. There are several men in hi.
country who are designing windows in clo,,,
sympathy with their architectural surround
ings than any that are being imported ana
executing them in the same material as IA.
foreign makers use. The great faetoris,
abroad have drifted into stereotyped design
and naturalism, in response to the popular
demand, which are as unarchtectural as any,
thing ever perpetrated in the much abused
opalescent glass; while the influence Of our
architects is forcing the American window
makers to consider first the architectural de-
mands of the building.
The popularity of the foreign made win.
dows is largely due TO the taste Of the donor,
of memorials, who usually delight in the lie.
like representation of figures and the delica,s
laciness of canopies, which bear no ressm.
blance to the stalwart decorations which can
be had as models in almost every village
church in Europe. The best models, the best
materials and the oldest established name in
the world will not make a successful sTchi.
tectural decoration unless the maker be
decorator in all that that word should mean.
That fact is exemplified in the complete fail.
ure of one of the greatest opportunities
which have fallen to the lot of window max
ers in modern times.
In the window to which | refer the glass /.
the most beautiful | have ever seen; the
maker, the dean of his profession; the sp
preparation, munifcent; the setting, ideal
and yet the result is such that il would never
have been accepted from-would never have
been allowed to be erected by-an Americas
maker. The faces are blurs Of white floating
in underlined masses of red and blue which
merge without mixing. There is no drawing
no composition. Such windows are admitts.
to this country free of duty, as works Of ar
though the mechanical cost Of producing
them here is more than twice as great az
abroad
The American makers Of stained glass win.
dows have a difficult problem to solve, but Il
they fail il will not be the fault of the srrkl.
tects, but because living conditions here
make it financially impossible to run shop
upon a small output and compete with the
factory methods employed abroad, and be-
cause the buying public will not pay the DIFF
ference for the more scholarly decorations.
o. W HEINlGKE.
New York. Feb "a, 1917.