The presentation will showcase many of Holiday’s North American commissions, illustrating Holiday’s transatlantic accomplishments during the tumultuous American Gilded Age, while facing the growing competition from American Glass designers John LaFarge and Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Holiday was unquestionably one of the greatest stained-glass artists of the Victorian-Edwardian period, yet his considerable achievements have not received the recognition that they deserve. He designed important windows for Westminster Abbey, Salisbury Cathedral and Southwark Cathedral and churches throughout the UK but he is not well known in America despite the many windows he designed for North American clients.
His early window displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia opened the door to the American market and a loyal group of new patrons. Over the following fifty years, he would design over 130 windows for the U. S. and Canada, including several of his largest and finest works. The presentation will stress the importance of Holiday’s windows and the need for their continued preservation.
George B. Bryant is the author of Henry Holiday: His Stained-Glass Windows For Gilded-Age New York published in 2023. It is the first book-length study on Henry Holiday (1839–1927) in more than a century and the first detailed study of his important stained-glass windows designed for America.
Mr. Bryant is a historian, author and former architect based in Philadelphia. He has researched and written extensively on the artist Henry Holiday. His interest in Victorian architecture and art dates back to his student days at the Bartlett School at University College London. Since then, he has published articles in Architectural History, The Journal of Stained Glass, Stained Glass and the William Morris Society Magazine.
All attendees will be sent a recording of the talk.
Image: Angels stained glass by Henry Holiday